LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 

MR.    RAYMOND   ACEVEDO 


CZAR    NICHOLAS    II. 


WtorltTs  BSest  Jetstones 


RUSSIA 

BY 

ALFRED    RAMBAUD 

TRANSLATED  BY  LEONORA  D.  LANG 

Illustrated 

WITH  A  SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTER  OF  RECENT  EVENTS 
BY  GILSON  WILLETS 

/*W)l 

5JteIc 

IN    TWO    VOLUMES 

VOLUME  TWO 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
THE  CO-OPERATIVE  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA 

VOLUME  TWO 


CONTENTS,  VOL.  II. 


PETER  THE  GREAT. 
CHAPTER  I. 

PETER  THE  GREAT  :  STRUGGLE  WITH  CHARLES  XII.      (1700-1709). 

Narva  (1700) :  conquest  of  the  Baltic  provinces  —  Charles  XII.  in- 
vades Russia :  Pultowa  (1709),  ....  9-21 

CHAPTER  II. 

PETER  THE  GREAT  :  THE  REFORMS. 

General  character  of  the  reforms :  the  instruments  of  Peter  the  Great 

—  Social  reforms  :  the  tchin  ;  emancipation  of  women  —  Adminis- 
trative, military,  and  ecclesiastical  reforms  —  Economic  reforms : 
manufactures  —  Utilitarian  character  of  tho  plans  of  education  — 
Foundation  of  St.  Petersburg  (1703),  -  -  -         23-40 

CHAPTER  III. 

PETER  THE  GREAT  :  LAST  YEARS  (1709-1725). 

War  with  Turkey  :  Treaty  of  the  Pruth  (1711)  —  Journey  to  Paris  (1717) 

—  Peace  of  Nystad  (1721)  —  Conquests  on  the  Carpian  —  Family 
affairs  :  Eudoxia ;  trial  of  Alexis  (1718) ;  Catherine,  -       41-52 


THE  EMPRESSES  OF  THE  18th  CENTURY. 
CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  WIDOW  AND  GRANDSON  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT  :  CATHERINE  I. 

(1725-1727)  and  peter  u.  (1727-1730). 
The  work  of  Peter  the  Great  continued  by  Catherine  —  Menchikof 
and  the  Dolgorouki  —  Maurice  de  Saxe  in  Courland,         -      53-57 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  TWO  ANNES  :  REIGN  OF  ANNE  IVANOVNA,  AND  REGENCY  OF 
ANNE  LEOPOLDOVNA  (1730-1741). 

Attempt  at  an  aristocratic  constitution  (1730)  j  ££g  "Bironovcht- 
china  "  —  Succession  of  Poland  (1733-1735)  ag£l  ? '.TZr  with  Turkey 
(1735-1739)  —  Ivan  VI.  —  Regency  of  BireS  *3S  Anne  —  Revolu- 
tion of  1741,  -  -  -  -  -  -    58-70 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  VI. 

ELIZABETH  PETROVNA  (1741-1762). 

Reaction  against  the  Germans  :  war  with  Sweden  (1741-1743)  —  Suc- 
cession of  Austria  :  war  against  Frederic  II.  (1756-1762)  —  Reforms 
under  Elizabeth  ;  French  influence,  ...  71-80 

CHAPTER  VII. 

PETER  III.    AND  THE  REVOLUTION   OF   1762. 

Government  of  Peter  III.  and  the  alliance  with  Frederic  II.  —  Revo- 
lution of  1762 :  Catherine  II.,  -  -  -  -  81-86 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

CATHERINE  II.  :  EARLY  YEARS  (1762-1780). 

End  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  :  intervention  in  Poland  —  First  Turk- 
ish war :  first  partition  of  Poland  (1772) :  Swedish  Revolution  of 
1772  —  Plague  at  Moscow  —  Pougatchef ,  -  -  87-99 

CHAPTER  IX. 

CATHERINE  n.  :  GOVERNMENT  AND  REFORMS. 

The  helpers  of  Catherine  II.  :  the  great  legislative  commission  (1766- 
1768)  —  Administration  and  justice  :  colonization  —  Public  instruc- 
tion —  Letters  and  arts  —  The  French  Philosophers,  100-110 

CHAPTER  X. 

CATHERINE  XI.  :  LAST  YEARS  (1779-1796). 

Franco-Russian  mediation  at  Teschen  (1779)  —  Armed  neutrality 
(1780)  —  Annexation  of  the  Crimea  (1783)  —  Second  war  with  Tur- 
key (1787-1792)  and  war  with  Sweden  (1788-1790)  —  Second  parti- 
tion of  Poland  :  Diet  of  Grodno  —  Third  partition  :  Kosciuszko  — 
Catherine  II.  and  the  French  Revolution— War  with  Persia,  111-127 


THE  FOUR  EMPERORS. 
CHAPTER  XI. 

PAUL  I.   (17TH  NOVEMBER,    1796-24TH  MARCH,  1801). 

Peace  policy  :  accession  to  the  second  Coalition  —  Campaigns  of  the 
Ionian  Islands,  Italy,  Switzerland,  Holland,  and  Naples  —  Alli- 
ance with  Bonaparte :  the  League  of  Neutrals,  and  the  great 
scheme  against  India,  .....        128-141 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  XII. 

ALEXANDER  I.  :   FOREIGN   AFFAIRS  (1801-1825). 

First  war  with  Napoleon  :  Austerlitz,  Eylau,  Friedland,  and  Treaty 
of  Tilsit  —  Interview  at  Erfurt :  wars  wifeh  England,  Sweden, 
Austria,  Turkey,  and  Persia  —  Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw  :  causes 
of  the  second  war  with  Napoleon  —  The  "  Patriotic  War  :"  battle 
of  Borodino  ;  burning  of  Moscow  ;  destruction  of  the  Grand  Army 
—  Campaigns  of  Germany  and  France  :  treaties  of  Vienna  and 
Paris  —  Kingdom  of  Poland  :  congresses  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Carls- 
bad, Laybach,  and  Verona,  ....        143-209 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

ALEXANDER  I.  :  INTERNAL  AFFAIRS. 

Early  years  :  the  triumvirate  ;  liberal  measures  ;  the  ministers  ;  pub- 
lic instruction  —  Speranski ;  Council  of  the  Empire  ;  projected 
civil  code  ;  ideas  of  social  reform  —  Araktcheef :  political  and  uni- 
versity reaction  ;  military  colonies  —  Secret  Societies  :  Poland  — 
Literary  and  scientific  movement,  ...         210-225 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

NICHOLAS  I.  (1825-1855). 
The  December  insurrection  —  Administration  and  reforms  —  Publio 
education  and  literature  —  War  with  Persia  (1826-1828)  —  First 
Turkish  war  :  liberation  of  Greece  (1826-1829)  —  The  Russians  and 
English  in  Asia  —  Polish  insurrection  (1831)  —  Hostility  against 
France :  the  Eastern  question  ;  Revolution  of  1848 ;  intervention 
in  Hungary  —  Second  Turkish  war  :  the  allies  in  the  Crimea  — 
Awakening  of  Russian  opinion,  -  -  -  226-254 

CHAPTER  XV. 

ALEXANDER  II.    (1855 — 1877). 

End  of  the  Crimean  war  :  Treaty  of  Paris  —  The  Act  of  the  19th  of 
February,  1861  :  judicial  reforms ;  local  self-government  —  The 
Polish  insurrection  —  Intellectual  movement ;  industrial  progress  ; 
military  law  —  Conquests  in  Asia  —  European  policy,  255-286 


Observations,  286 

Bibliographical  Notes,    -  -  -  -  -  288 

Table  of  Measures,  Weights,  &c.,  -  293 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PETER  THE  GREAT  :   STRUGGLE  WITH  CHARLES  XII.      (170O-I709). 

Narva  (1700):  conquest  of  the  Baltic  provinces— Charles  XII.  invades  Russia t 

Pultowa  (1709). 


NARVA  (1700):    CONQUEST  OF  THE    BALTIC  PROVINCES. 

Peter  I.  had  navigated  the  White  Sea,  and  conquered  a  port 
on  the  Sea  of  Azof ;  but  by  the  Baltic  alone  could  he  secure  rapid 
and  regular  communication  with  the  nations  of  the  West.  It 
was  only  by  taking  up  a  position  on  the  Baltic  that  Russia  could 
cease  to  be  an  Oriental  State,  and  could  form  part  of  Europe. 
The  Baltic  at  that  time  belonged  to  Sweden,  whose  possessions 
on  the  coasts — Finland,  Carelia,  Ingria,  Esthonia,  Livonia,  and 
Pomerania — made  it  a  S\  odish  Mediterranean.  Stockholm  was 
situated  in  the  centre  of  the  monarchy  of  the  Vasas,  instead  of 
lying,  as  it  does  at  present,  on  its  maritime  frontier.  To  "  open 
a  window  "  into  the  West,  it  was  necessary  to  break  in  some 
point  the  chain  of  Swedish  possessions.  The  opportunity  seemed 
favorable.  The  struggle  still  continued  in  Sweden  between  the 
aristocracy  and  the  crown  ;  the  last  king,  Charles  XL,  had  in 
1680  rendered  his  authority  absolute,  and  ordered  the  nobles  to 
restore  to  the  throne  all  the  crown  lands  alienated  since  1609. 
This  edict  of  resumption,  scarcely  mitigated  by  a  promise  of 
indemnity,  ruined  the  aristocracy.  In  Livonia  especially,  the 
German  nobility,  descendants  of  the  old  Order,  protested 
strongly.  They  sent  a  deputation  to  the  king,  Charles  XL,  with 
John  Reinhold  Patkul  at  its  head.     He  was  a  proud,  energetics 


I  o  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  ROSS/A. 

vindictive,  and  intelligent  man,  whose  free  speech  displeased 
the  king ;  and  as  his  colleagues  supported  him  in  all  his  acts,  he 
and  they  were  arrested,  carried  before  a  court-martial,  and  con- 
demned to  death.  Patkul  managed  to  escape,  and  burning  with 
rage  he  sought  on  all  sides  enemies  of  Charles  XL  and  his  young 
son  Charles  XII.  It  was  he  who  proposed  to  Augustus  of  Sax- 
ony, king  of  Poland,  a  scheme  by  which  Sweden  was  to  be  at- 
tacked simultaneously  by  all  her  neighbors.  Poland  was  to 
take  from  her  Livonia  and  Esthonia,  Russia  was  to  conquer  In- 
gria  and  Carelia,  Denmark  was  to  invade  Holstein,  which  belonged 
to  a  brother-in-law  of  Charles  XII.  Peter  accepted  the  over- 
tures of  the  King  of  Poland  :  he  desired  nothing  better  than  to 
carry  out  the  designs  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  and  of  his  father  Alexis. 
The  youth  of  the  new  King  of  Sweden,  and  his  reputed  incapac- 
ity, led  Peter  to  expect  rapid  success.  Peter  I.  acceded  to  the 
coalition  by  virtue  of  the  Treaty  of  Preobrajenskoe*.  In  the 
manifesto  by  which  he  declared  war,  he  took  pains  to  recall  his 
grievances,  puerile  though  they  were,  against  the  governor  of 
Riga. 

When  Peter  appeared  under  the  walls  of  Narva,  Patkul  at 
first  rejoiced,  but  speedily  became  uneasy  ;  he  had  not  intended 
that  Narva  should  be  attacked  by  the  Russians,  but  advised 
Augustus  not  to  raise  the  question.  The  coalition  was  almost 
immediately  smitten  by  two  unexpected  blows.  The  King  of 
Denmark,  threatened  in  Copenhagen,  had  been  forced  to  sign 
the  Treaty  of  Traventhal,  and  at  the  approach  of  the  Swedes 
the  King  of  Poland  had  been  forced  to  raise  the  siege  of  Riga. 
Without  waiting  to  pursue  the  Poles,  Charles  turned  against  the 
Russians. 

A  desire  to  please  the  victors  has  caused  the  numerical  dis- 
proportion between  the  two  armies  to  be  exaggerated.  Voltaire 
himself  was  forced  to  rectify,  in  his  '  History  of  Peter  the  Great,' 
the  numbers  that  he  had  given  in  the  '  History  of  Charles  XII.' 
The  latter  had  hardly  8430  men  ;  the  Russians  amounted  to  63,- 
500  men,  of  whom  only  40,000  took  part  in  the  action.  The 
army  was  composed  of  regular  troops,  beside  streltsi,  Cossacks, 
di/ti-boyarskiS,  and  men  raised  in  haste.  In  the  absence  of  the 
Tzar,  who  had  quitted  the  camp  on  the  previous  evening  to 
hasten  the  arrival  of  the  reinforcements,  it  was  placed  under 
the  command  of  an  old  general  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany  the 
Due  de  Crol,  whom  the  troops  suspected  from  the  fact  of  his 
being  a  stranger.  In  the  siege  of  Narva,  they  had  at  their  backs 
the  Narova,  or  river  of  Narva,  and  occupied  a  fortified  line  of 
seven  versts  (4  miles),  the  whole  extent  of  which  it  was  impos- 
sible to  defend.    In  some  places  there  was  only  a  single  line  0! 


HISTOR  Y  OF  R  USSZA.  x  x 

soldiers,  placed  about  six  feet  from  one  another.  In  front, 
about  the  centre,  they  had  erected  a  great  battery  ;  before  the 
entrenchments,  on  the  route  to  Revel,  were  outposts  to  the 
number  of  4000  men. 

On  the  30th  (19th)  of  November,  1700,  the  battle  began  by  a 
cannonade  that  lasted  till  two  in  the  afternoon.  At  that  time 
the  Swedes  reached  the  foot  of  the  entrenchments  under  cover  of 
a  snow-storm,  which  prevented  the  Russians  from  seeing  twenty 
paces  in  front.  In  an  instant  the  Swedes  had  crossed  the  fosse 
and  the  parapet,  and  the  Russian  camp  was  seized  with  panic. 
"The  Germans  have  betrayed  us,"  cried  the  soldiers,  and  began 
to  stab  the  foreign  officers.  The  Due  de  Croi  and  his  staff  saw 
no  refuge  from  their  own  soldiers  except  in  flight  to  the  Swed- 
ish camp.  Cheremetief,  who  commanded  the  cavalry,  hurried 
to  the  river  Narova,  and  succeeded  in  crossing  it,  though  more 
than  a  thousand  men  were  lost  in  the  passage.  One  body  alone 
defended  itself  with  the  energy  of  despair  :  the  Preobrajenski  and 
the  Semenvo.ki,  favorite  regiments  of  Peter  the  Great,  which 
had  been  rganized  after  the  European  fashion,  entrenched 
themselves  in  haste  behind  a  barrier  formed  of  artillery  wagons, 
and  repulsed  all  the  attacks  of  the  Swedes,  directed  by  the  king 
in  person.  In  spite  of  this  gallant  defence,  the  Russian  army 
was  cut  in  two  by  the  capture  of  the  great  central  battery.  Nigh* 
came  on  and  increased  the  disorder.  The  right  wing,  com- 
manded by  Dolgorouki,  Golovin  ,  Boutourline,  and  Alexander, 
TzareVitch  of  Imeritia,  entered  into  negotiations  with  the  king ; 
the  generals  signed  a  capitulation  which  insured  them  a  free  re- 
treat with  arms,  standards,  and  baggage,  but  they  had  to  abandon 
all  their  artillery,  except  six  pieces  of  cannon.  The  Preobrajen- 
ski and  Semenovski  guards  left  their  fortress  of  wagons  and 
retired  in  good  order,  and  to  hasten  their  retreat  the  Swedes 
themselves  built  them  a  bridge  over  the  Narova.  The  left  wing, 
which  had  suffered  more  severely,  was  obliged  to  sign  a  more 
rigorous  capitulation :  it  was  allowed  to  retire,  but  had  to  lay 
down  its  arms.  Charles  XII.  then  allowed  the  Russian  army 
to  cross  the  river,  neither  from  generosity  nor  disdain,  as  has 
sometimes  been  said,  but  from  prudence.  Wrede,  the  Swedish 
general,  writes :  "  If  the  Russian  general  Weide,  who  had  6000 
men  under  arms,  had  had  the  courage  to  attack  us,  we  should 
have  been  lost ;  we  were  completely  exhausted,  having  had 
neither  rest  nor  food  for  many  days,  and  our  soldiers  were  so 
intoxicated  with  the  wine  that  they  found  in  the  Russian  camp 
that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  restore  order."  The  King 
of  Sweden,  by  slightly  straining  the  terms  of  capitulation,  re- 
tained as  prisoners  Croi  and  the  officers  who  had  taken  refuge 


X 2  HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA. 

th  his  camp.  Many  remained  for  twenty  years  in  Sweden. 
Besides  the  prisoners,  the  Russians  had  lost  6000  men,  the 
Swedes  nearly  2000  men. 

There  are  salutary  defeats  and  fatal  victories.  Charles  was 
overwhelmed  by  flatteries  from  the  whole  of  Europe.  Medals 
were  struck  in  his  honor  with  the  inscriptions,  "  Superant  oper- 
etta fidem"  or  again,  "  Tres  uno  contudit  ictu."  The  young  king 
could  not  entirely  shake  off  the  intoxication  of  his  success. 
"  He  dreams  of  nothing  but  war,"  writes  his  general  Stenbock  ; 
"  he  no  longer  listens  to  advice  ;  he  behaves  as  one  who  thinks 
that  God  directly  inspires  him  for  what  he  has  to  do."  He  de- 
spised enemies  so  easily  conquered,  and,  counting  the  Russian 
army  for  nothing,  made  great  preparations  for  the  downfall  of 
the  harmless  King  of  Poland.  During  five  years  he  did  nothing 
but  plot  for  his  dethronement,  meddling  in  the  intrigues  of  the 
Polish  diets,  and  trying  to  crush  the  partisans  of  Augustus,  as  if 
the  elevation  and  support  of  Stanislas  Leszczinski  had  been  really 
of  vital  importance  to  Sweden  in  the  same  way  as  the  possession 
of  its  maritime  provinces.  Peter  understood  how  much  it  was 
for  his  advantage  that  his  rival  should  be  thus  occupied  ;  he 
aided  Augustus  of  Saxony  with  troops  and  money,  to  keep  his 
own  hands  free  in  the  regions  of  the  Baltic.  It  was  enough  for 
him  to  know  that  the  impetuous  King  of  Sweden  was  for  some 
time  entangled  among  the  marshes  and  intrigues  of  Poland. 

Peter  had  taken  courage  after  Narva.  Nothing  was  really 
lost,  since  the  greater  part  of  his  army  remained  intact ;  he  had 
only  to  turn  to  profit  this  rude  lesson  in  the  military  art.  He 
increased  the  fortifications  of  Pskof,  Novgorod,  and  the  frontier 
towns  ;  every  one  was  set  to  work.  He  frightened,  by  terrible 
examples,  robbers  of  treasure  and  dishonest  officials.  With  the 
church  bells  he  cast  three  hundred  cannon  ;  he  created  ten  new 
regiments,  each  consisting  of  a  thousand  dragoons.  He  sent 
250  children  to  the  military  schools. 

The  year  after  the  defeat  at  Narva,  Cheremetief  attacked  the 
Swedish  general  Slipenbach  near  Ehresfer  in  Livonia.  The 
Russians  were  the  more  numerous,  but  it  was  an  advance  to  con- 
quer the  Swedes,  even  at  odds  of  three  to  one.  Out  of  7000 
men  Slipenbach  lost  3500,  and  only  350  prisoners  were  taken — • 
a  fact  which  proves  the  fierceness  of  the  fighting.  This  "eldest 
of  Russian  victories  "  was  celebrated  at  Moscow  by  a  triumph  in 
which  the  arms,  guns,  and  banners  of  the  vanquished  filed  past^ 
Cheremetief  was  created  field-marshal,  and  Peter  exclaimed. 
"  Glory  be  to  God  !  one  day  we  shall  be  able  to  beat  the  Swedes  " 
(1701).  The  same  year  seven  Swedish  vessels  were  repulsed 
by  the  fleet  of  the  Tzar.     In  1702  Cheremetief  again  defeated 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS1A.  1 3 

Slipenbachat  ilummelsdorff,  took  from  him  all  his  artillery,  and 
killed  6000  o\\t  ot  his  8000  men. 

The  ultimate  aim  of  Peter  was  the  possession  of  the  Neva, 
which  had  belonged  to  the  early  Russian  princes,  and  where 
Saint  Alexander  Nevski  had  won  his  glorious  surname  by  vic- 
tories over  Swedish  enemies.  He  took  Noteburg,  the  ancient 
Orecheck  {the  nut)  of  the  Novgorodians,  which  commanded  the 
Neva  where  it  leaves  Lake  Ladoga,  and  called  it  Schlusselburg 
(fortress  of  the  key),  because  the  post  would  make  him  master 
of  the  river.  Near  the  mouth  of  the  Neva  the  Swedes  held  the 
small  fort  of  Nienschantz ;  he  captured  and  destroyed  it,  and  in 
a  neighboring  island  he  founded  the  citadel  round  which  his 
future  capital  was  to  cluster;  the  islet  of  Cronslott  became  Cron- 
stadt,  which  was  to  close  against  the  Scandinavians  the  entrance 
on  the  side  of  the  sea.  The  Neva  was  his.  The  same  year 
(1703)  he  seized  two  Swedish  vessels  in  its  waters — "  an  unheard- 
of  success,"  he  wrote  to  Moscow.  Then  Koperie,  lam,  and 
Dorpat  (once  a  vassal  city  of  Novgorod)  fell  into  his  hands,  and 
he  revenged  himself  for  his  defeat  at  Narva  by  capturing  that 
town  (1704),  and  by  protecting  the  citizens  from  his  own  soldiers, 
who  were  drunk  with  blood.  During  this  time  Livonia  and 
Esthonia,  provinces  inherited  by  Charles  XII.,  were  given  up  to 
frightful  devastation,  worse  than  that  of  the  Palatinate  by  Louis 
XIV.  The  days  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  seemed  to  have  returned, 
The  Russians  signalized  the  reconquest  of  their  ancient  territory 
by  atrocities.  Volmar,  Marienburg,  Wenden,  and  Wesen  were 
pillaged ;  Cheremetief  only  spared  Riga,  Pernau,  and  Revel  (or 
Kobyvan,  as  it  was  called  by  the  Tchouds).  The  Letto-Finnish 
country  was  made  a  desert ;  the  Cossacks,  Kalmucks,  Bachkirs, 
and  Tatars  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  their  prisoners.  The 
Zaporogues  alone  carried  4000  captives — men,  women,  and 
children — back  to  the  Lower  Dnieper.  Neither  the  capture  of 
the  fortresses,  the  burning  of  the  towns,  nor  the  extermination 
of  the  people,  could  distract  Charles  XII.  from  the  attempt  to 
ruin  Augustus. 

In  1705  the  Tzar  felt  it  was  necessary  to  keep  an  eye  on  the 
actions  of  the  Swede  in  Poland,  and  not  to  allow  his  ally 
Augustus  to  be  entirely  crushed.  It  was  enough  to  have  taken 
from  him  his  share  of  the  booty,  Esthonia  and  Livonia.  The 
Russians  crossed  the  Dwina,  occupied  Courland  and  Wilna,  and 
concentrated  themselves  in  an  entrenched  camp  at  Grodno. 
Peter,  like  Ivan  the  Terrible,  had  not  only  to  struggle  with  his 
external  enemies ;  the  internal  factions  had  not  yet  been  sur> 
dued.  At  the  moment  that  he  was  preparing  to  give  battle  to 
the  Swedes,  the  revolt  of  Astrakhan  obliged  him  to  send  to  ths 


14  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Lower  Volga  a  portion  of  his  troops  under  Cheremetief,  one  of 
his  best  generals.  It  was  time  Cheremetief  arrived,  for  already 
the  streltsi  of  Astrakhan  had  appealed  for  help  to  the  Cossacks. 
The  Russian  army  in  Lithuania  found  itself  for  an  instant  in  great 
straits  :  Schulenburg,  the  general  of  Augustus,  had  been  defeated 
at  Frauenstadt  (1706),  and  been  forced  to  fall  back  on  Saxony 
Thanks  to  the  skilful  dispositions  of  Peter,  the  Russian  army 
succeeded  in  retreating  without  opposition  to  Kief.  About  the 
year  1706  Menchikof  inflicted  on  the  Swedish  general  Mardefelt, 
with  nearly  equal  numbers,  a  bloody  defeat  near  Kalisch. 


CHARLES  XII.    INVADES    RUSSIA:    PULTOWA    (1709). 

Charles  XII.  had  pursued  the  army  of  the  King  of  Poland 
into  Saxony ;  to  punish  his  new  enterprise  against  Stanislas 
Leszczinski  and  his  entrance  into  Warsaw,  he  crushed  the 
Electoral  States  by  his  extortions  and  requisitions  ;  he  traversed 
Silesia  without  deigning  to  ask  leave  of  the  Emperor  Joseph, 
despising  the  protestations  of  the  diet  of  Ratisbon  ;  he  received 
the  complaints  of  the  Protestants  of  this  province  who  were 
persecuted  by  Austria,  and  appeared  before  the  malcontents  of 
Hungary  as  the  great  redresser  of  wrongs.  This  happened  at 
the  most  critical  moment  in  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession. 
France,  defeated  at  Hochstadt,  Ramilies,  and  Turin,  turned 
her  eyes  towards  victorious  Sweden.  England,  Holland,  Aus- 
tria, Brandenburg,  Hanover,  all  the  powers  concerned  in  the 
attack  on  the  French  frontiers,  trembled  lest  the  Swedish  army 
should  assail  the  coalition  in  the  rear.  Had  not  Sweden  been 
the  ally  of  France  since  the  time  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  of 
Oxenstiern  ?  Had  she  not  been  the  companion  of  her  days  of 
glory  ?  Did  she  not  owe  France  her  great  position  in  Ger- 
many ?  Had  she  not  to  fear  lest  she  might  suffer  from  the 
defeat  of  France  ?  Was  not  Charles  XII.  at  this  moment  re- 
ceiving subsidies  from  the  Grand  Monarque  ?  Was  his  help 
not  entreated  by  the  French  envoys  ?  The  fate  of  the  world 
seemed  to  lie  in  the  hands  of  the  young  victor.  If  he  turned  to 
the  West,  if  he  revenged  his  own  grievances  and  those  of  Prot- 
estantism against  Austria,  France  was  saved,  and  Sweden, 
whom  fearful  things  awaited  on  the  plains  of  Russia,  was  saved 
also.  There  was  a  pause  of  anxious  and  solemn  expectation, 
all  the  greater  because  the  proud  and  silent  monarch  had  al- 
lowed no  hint  of  his  projects  to  escape  him.  The  situation  ap- 
peared so  grave  that  in  April  1707  Marlborough  resolved  to 
seek  him  in  his  camp.     Few  words  were  exchanged  between 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


»5 


these  two  great  captains,  whose  characters  were  so  different, 
but  the  clever  Englishman  was  able  to  guess  Charles's  hatred 
and  jealousy  of  France ;  he  saw  that  his  eyes  glittered  at  the 
mention  of  the  Tzar ;  he  remarked  spread  out  on  the  table  a 
map  of  Russia.  Marlborough  retired  full  of  hope.  Those  who 
feared  Charles  agreed  to  whatever  he  proposed  to  them  ;  Au- 
gustus accepted  the  humiliating  treaty  of  Altranstadt ;  he  de- 
livered up  Patkul,  whom  the  Tzar  had  accredited  to  him  as 
ambassador,  and  whom,  in  spite  of  his  inviolable  position,  the 
son  of  Charles  XL  broke  on  the  wheel.  The  Emperor  relin- 
quished a  hundred  churches  to  the  Protestants  of  Silesia,  dis- 
missed a  chamberlain  of  whom  the  King  had  reason  to  complain, 
surrendered  1500  Russian  refugees,  and  recalled  400  German 
officers  who  had  taken  service  with  the  Tzar.  The  Elector  of 
Brandenburg  signed  a  perpetual  peace.  Charles  XII.  might 
now  break  up  his  camp  at  Leipzig  ;  he  saw  only  one  enemy,  the 
Tzar  of  Russia. 

The  adversary  of  Peter  the  Great  was  an  admirable  knight- 
errant  rather  than  a  sovereign.  The  absolute  power  of  which 
he  became  possessed  at  an  early  age  left  without  counterpoise 
his  fiery  temper  and  obstinate  character — his  "  iron  head,"  as 
the  Turks  said  at  Bender.  Voltaire  observes  that  he  carried  all 
his  virtues  to  such  an  excess  that  they  became  as  dangerous  as 
the  opposite  vices.  His  dominant  virtue  and  vice  was  a  passion 
for  glory.  Glory,  and  glory  alone,  was  to  him  the  end  of  war. 
He  does  not  appear  to  have  understood  that  it  was  possible  to 
acquire  it  by  practising  the  arts  of  peace.  Up  to  the  moment 
when  the  news  of  the  coalition  formed  against  him  revealed  to 
him  his  military  vocation,  he  seemed  the  most  insignificant  of 
all  the  European  princes.  His  conduct  appeared  to  be  regu- 
lated, not  by  the  political  principles  current  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  but  by  some  strange  and  archaic  point  of  honor.  He 
only  knew  Alexander  the  Great  as  the  romantic  hero  of  Quintus 
Curtius,  and  this  phantom  he  took  for  his  ideal.  He  was 
nourished  on  the  old  Scandinavian  sagas,  and  we  may  truly  say 
that  the  soul  and  spirit  of  the  old  vikings  revived  in  him  :  he 
had  their  wonderful  deeds  forever  before  his  eyes,  and  the 
versified  maxims  of  the  Scalds  forever  present  to  his  memory. 
Charles  XII.  was  a  hero  of  the  Edda  set  down  by  mistake  in  a 
matter-of-fact  century.  A  Russian  historian,  M.  Guerrier,  calls 
him  "  The  last  of  the  Varangians  " ;  he  was  the  last  of  those 
Scandinavian  adventurers  who  had  marched  over  the  Russian 
plains  from  Novgorod  to  Kief,  but  to  whom  henceforth  the  road 
to  the  south  remained  forever  shut.  Pitiless  to  others  as  well 
as  to  himself,  we  find  him  undergoing  useless  dangers  and 


1 6  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSlA. 

fatigues,  seeking  adventures  like  a  sea-king  who  had  onTy  bis 
head  to  risk  ;  considering  a  war  as  a  single  combat  between  two 
champions,  which  could  only  end,  if  not  with  the  death,  at  leasi 
with  the  dethronement,  of  the  vanquished  ;  fighting  not  to  gain 
crowns,  but  to  distribute  them  ;  giving  largesses  to  his  soldiers 
as  if  he  had  always  the  treasures  of  pillage,  the  "red  gold  of 
Fafnir's  heath,"  at  his  disposal ;  despising  all  the  luxuries  of 
life,  like  the  Northmen  who  boasted  of  never  having  slept  be- 
neath a  roof :  flying  from  women,  "  whose  silken  hairs,"  say  the 
sagas,  "  are  nets  of  perfidy  "  ;  regarding  a  backward  movement 
as  dishonor,  and  considering  prudent  advice  an  evidence  of 
weakness  ;  ready  to  face  water,  as  in  the  marshes  of  Lithuania ; 
or  fire,  as  in  the  conflagration  of  Bender.  He  had  his  own 
guard  of  drabans,  as  the  konungs  of  fabulous  times  had  their 
droujina,  as  Alexander  had  his  hetairoi.  His  companioos  also 
are  heroes  of  sagas,  and  legend  has  gilded  their  exploits.  It  is 
related  in  Sweden  that  Hinstersfelt  carried  off  the  enemy's  guns 
on  his  shoulders,  and  that,  passing  through  a  vaulted  gateway, 
from  which  hung  a  ring,  he  put  his  little  finger  through  it  and 
pulled  himself  up  by  it,  and  with  him  the  horse  which  he  pressed 
between  his  knees.  "  When  I  have  nine  of  my  drabans  with 
me,"  said  Charles,  "  nothing  can  hinder  me  from  going  where  I 
will."  He  was  thus  impelled  to  seek  adventures  in  distant  lands, 
and,  like  the  warriors  of  old,  to  "  win  the  world  by  the  force  of 
his  arm."  He  sent  officers  even  into  Asia  and  Egypt  to  recon- 
noitre and  to  collect  information. 

The  poet  Pouchkine  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  disappointed 
Mazeppa  the  following  remark  : — "  I  have  been  mistaken  about 
this  Charles  :  no  doubt  he  is  a  bold  and  audacious  youth  ;  he 
can  gain  two,  or  even  three  battles ;  he  can  fall  suddenly  on  the 
enemy,  eat  his  breakfast,  reply  to  a  bomb  with  a  burst  of 
laughter ;  like  any  sharpshooter,  he  can  glide  by  night  into  the 
camp  of  the  foe,  overthrow  some  Cossack  as  he  has  done  to-day, 
give  blow  for  blow,  and  wound  for  wound  :  but  he  is  not  of  a 
stature  to  cope  with  the  giant ;  he  wishes  to  make  Fortune 
manoeuvre  like  a  regiment  at  the  sound  of  the  drum.  He  is 
blind,  obstinate,  impatient ;  he  is  thoughtless  and  presumptuous  ; 
he  believes  in  God  knows  what  star.  He  measures  by  his  past 
success  the  new  forces  of  his  enemy.  He  must  be  taught  better. 
I  am  ashamed  in  my  old  age  to  have  allowed  myself  to  be  se- 
duced by  a  military  wanderer, — to  have  been  dazzled,  like  a 
young  girl,  by  the  courage  and  the  luck  of  an  adventurer." 

The  two  adversaries  were  to  meet  at  last.  Charles  quitted 
Saxony  with  43,000  men,  enriched  with  the  spoils  of  the 
country  ;  he   left   behind   1 0,000   to   support  Stanislas  on  the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  I? 

throne,  and  marched  towards  the  Niemen.  He  was  the  first  to 
enter  Grodno  with  600  men,  and  only  the  prodigies  of  valor 
which  he  performed  prevented  his  being  captured  by  the 
Russian  rear-guard  (1708).  The  Tzar,  in  pursuance  of  a  system 
which  was  to  be  followed  in  181 2,  fell  back  on  Russia,  laying 
waste  Lithuania  as  he  went.  The  Swedish  name  was  still  a 
universal  terror.  Besides  the  33,000  men  who  followed 
Charles,  Lewenhaupt  was  to  bring  up  18,000  from  Poland.  No 
Russian  force  seemed  fit  to  cope  with  the  most  experienced 
army  in  Europe.  The  internal  affairs  of  Russia  also  troubled 
Peter ;  it  was  at  this  decisive  moment  that  the  revolt  of  Boula- 
vine,  in  the  camp  of  the  Don,  occurred,  and  the  first  agitation 
amongthe  Cossacks  of  the  Dnieper.  Before  risking  the  safety 
of  his  empire,  within  which  terrible  disorders  were  still  ferment- 
ing, before  exposing  his  new  creations  to  the  horrors  of  an 
invasion,  Peter  tried  to  negotiate  with  his  enemy ;  he  offered  to 
be  content  with  a  single  port  on  the  Baltic.  I  will  treat  with 
the  Tzar  in  Moscow,"  said  Charles. 

From  the  Niemen,  across  the  forest  of  Minsk,  where  the 
Swedes  were  obliged  to  cut  a  passage  with  their  axes,  Charles 
XII.  reached  the  Berezina,  which  he  crossed  at  the  head  of  a 
body  of  3000  men.  At  Hollosin  he  came  up  with  20,000 
Russians ;  whose  steadiness  should  have  given  him  pause,  for 
they  only  yielded  at  the  seventh  charge  of  the  king.  He 
reached  the  Dnieper  at  Mohilef,  and  even  got  as  far  as  Mstislaf. 
At  Dobroe,  south  of  Smolensk,  he  attacked  a  body  of  10,000 
Russians  and  6000  Kalmucks.  This  time  he  had  a  horse  killed 
under  him,  two  aides-de-camp  killed  at  his  side,  and,  find- 
ing himself  alone  with  five  men,  slew  twelve  foes  with  his 
own  hand,  and  only  escaped  by  a  miracle.  Russia,  however, 
was  not  going  to  allow  herself  to  be  conquered  so  easily.  He 
then  found  himself  on  the  road  to  Moscow,  which  Napoleon  was 
afterwards  to  take,  300  miles  from  the  Russian  capital.  It  was 
already  the  end  of  September  ;  winter  approached,  and  showed 
signs  of  being  severe ;  provisions  were  scarce,  and  Charles 
was  advised  to  retreat  from  Mstislaf  to  Mohilef,  and  there 
await  Lewenhaupt,  who  would  bring  up  18,000  men  and  plenty 
of  food.  Charles,  however,  allowed  himself  to  be  tempted 
by  the  offers  of  Mazeppa,  who  promised  him  a  reinforcement 
of  30,000  Cossacks,  and  by  the  hopes  of  abundance  in  the 
fertile  plains  of  the  south.  Besides,  as  he  confessed  to  Gyl- 
lenkruk,  who  was  horrified  by  this  confidence,  "he  had  no 
plan."  So  he  turned  towards  the  Ukraine.  Then  the  Tzar  and 
his  generals  hung  like  wolves  on  the  flank  of  Lewenhaupt,  who 
found  himself  isolated  and  without  support  on  the  plains  of  the 


1 8  HISTOk  Y  OP  RUSSIA. 

Dnieper.  At  Lesna,  on  the  banks  of  the  Soja,  they  fought  h 
battle  which  raged  for  three  days,  and  where,  this  time,  the 
numbers  were  equal.  The  Swedish  general  lost  12,000  out  of 
his  18,000  men,  and  was  forced  to  spike  his  cannon  and  burn  a 
thousand  wagon-loads  of  provisions,  besides  the  6000  captured 
Dy  the  Russians.  All  the  convoy,  which  was  the  only  hope  of 
the  royal  army,  was  destroyed.  Lewenhaupt  only  brought  to 
Charles  what  remained  from  the  disaster. 

By  this  time  winter  had  come,  the  terrible  winter  of  1709.  In 
the  forced  marches  which  the  King  of  Sweden  had  the  impru- 
ence  to  impose  on  his  army,  the  men,  who  lacked  winter  cloth- 
fng,  and  the  starving  horses  perished  by  thousands  ;  the  guns 
were  thrown  into  the  river  for  want  of  beasts  to  transport  them. 
The  very  crows  fell  dead  from  the  cold,  and  the  doctors  were 
employed  in  amputating  frost-bitten  hands  and  feet.  Charles 
continued  his  march,  ascertained  the  distance  which  separated 
him  from  Asia,  and  consoled  his  half-naked  soldiers  with  the 
assurance  that  he  would  conduct  them  so  far  that  they  could 
only  receive  news  of  Sweden  three  times  a  year.  A  soldier 
showed  him  the  horrible  mouldy  bread  on  which  the  army  was 
fed.  Charles  took  it,  tasted  it,  and  observed  quietly,  "  It  is  not 
good,  but  it  may  be  eaten." 

The  arrival  of  spring  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  sufferings  of 
the  army.  Prince  Menchikof  sacked  Batourine,  the  capital  of 
the  fugitive  hetman,  and  razed  the  sttcha  of  the  Zaporogues 
(May  1709).  Charles  reached  the  walls  of  Pultowa,  and  halted 
there,  to  wait  for  the  Turks  and  the  Poles  of  Leszczinski,  who 
were  never  to  arrive.  While  awaiting  them  he  determined  to 
attack  Pultowa,  "  for  a  diversion."  It  was  in  vain  that  the  use- 
lessness  of  the  enterprise  and  the  impossibility  of  success  were 
represented  to  him.  What  was  the  good  of  wasting  powder  and 
the  munitions  of  war,  which  had  now  become  rare  in  the  camp  ? 
"  Yes,"  replied  the  Iron-head  to  Gyllenkruk,  "  we  are  obliged 
to  do  extraordinary  things  to  gain  honor  and  glory  ; "  and  to 
Piper,  "  An  angel  would  have  to  descend  from  heaven  with 
orders  for  me  to  go  before  I  stirred  from  this  place."  When  had 
his  favorite  heroes  of  the  Eddas  ever  been  seen  to  retreat  ?  He 
made  Gutman,  his  servant,  recite  the  saga  of  Rolf  Ericsen,  who 
4S  vanquished  the  Russian  sorcerer  in  the  isle  of  Retusari,  and 
conquered  all  Russia  and  Denmark,  so  that  his  name  is 
honored  and  glorified  throughout  the  North."  Menchikof  then 
came  up  and  showed  that  he  had  profited  by  the  lessons  of  the 
Swedes  by  making  a  feint,  which  enabled  him  to  throw  som« 
troops  into  Pultowa. 

The  Tzar  arrived  (4th — 15th  June,  1709)  with  60,000  men, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


19 


whom  he  covered  by  an  entrenchment  raised  during  a  single 
night.  Charles's  army  was  now  reduced  to  29,000  men,  who 
lacked  everything,  suffered  as  much  from  the  extreme  heat  as 
they  had  formerly  done  from  the  extreme  cold,  and  were 
exhausted  by  suffering  and  privations.  He  had  only  four  field- 
pieces  against  the  seventy-two  guns  of  the  Tzar.  In  one  of  his 
nightly  sallies,  when  he  was  trying  to  harass  the  enemy's  van- 
guard, Charles  received  a  wound  in  his  heel  which  necessitated 
a  cruel  operation,  and  on  the  day  of  the  famous  battle  (27th 
June — 8th  July,  1709)  he  had  to  be  carried  in  a  litter.  The 
generals  on  whom  the  responsibility  of  command  fell  could  not 
agree  ;  he  himself  thwarted  the  dispositions  of  Rehnskold,  who 
was  nominated  general-in-chief. 

Peter  had  confided  the  centre  to  Cheremetief,  the  right  to 
Renne,  the  left  to  Menchikof,  and  the  artillery  to  Bruce.  He 
then  harangued  his  troops.  "  The  moment  is  come,"  he  said  ; 
"  the  fate  of  our  country  is  to  be  decided.  You  must  not  think 
'  it  is  for  Peter  we  fight ' ;  no,  it  is  for  the  empire  confided  to 
Peter,  it  is  for  the  country,  it  is  for  our  orthodox  faith,  for  the 
Church  of  God.  As  for  Peter,  know  that  he  is  ready  to  sacrifice 
his  life  for  a  prosperous  and  glorious  future  for  Russia." 

The  Swedes  took  the  offensive.  "  All  those  who  have  served 
in  the  Swedish  army,"  says  Voltaire,  "  know  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  resist  their  first  shock."  They  saw  in  victory  an  end  of 
their  sufferings,  and  fought  like  the  wild  Bersarkers  of  the 
legends.  They  charged  with  fury  the  cavalry  placed  at  the 
right  of  the  Russians,  wounded  Renne,  who  had  to  yield  his 
command  to  Bauer,  and  took  two  redoubts.  Peter,  in  trying 
to  rally  his  cavalry,  received  a  ball  in  his  hat.  Menchikof  had 
three  horses  killed  under  him. 

Unluckily  for  Charles,  the  corps  of  Kreutz,  which  ought  to 
have  made  a  d/tour  and  fallen  on  the  enemy's  flank,  was  lost, 
and  never  appeared.  The  superior  artillery  of  the  Russians  ar- 
rested the  charge  of  the  Swedes.  Menchikof  marched  boldly 
on  their  rear,  and  thus  separated  the  body  of  the  army  from  the 
camp  under  Pultowa,  which  he  finally  reached.  The  Russian 
fire  on  the  front  of  the  Swedes  was  so  violent  that  the  horses 
harnessed  to  Charles's  litter  were  killed  ;  his  drabans  then  took 
it  in  turns  to  carry  him,  but  twenty-one  out  of  the  twenty-four 
were  left  where  they  fell.  The  Russian  cavalry  rallied,  and  the 
Russian  infantry  which  was  now  put  in  motion  broke  the  Swed- 
ish line.  Attacked  in  front  by  Peter,  and  in  the  rear  by  Men- 
chikof, the  Swe'des  were  speedily  thrown  into  disorder.  They 
fled,  and  Charles  was  placed  on  horseback  by  his  guards,  and 
obliged  to  go  with  the  stream.     He  hardly  escaped  being  taken* 


90  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Accompanied  by  Mazeppa  and  by  the  Pole  Poniatowski,  he  ar- 
rived after  two  days'  flight  at  the  banks  of  the  celebrated  Borys- 
thenes,  which  in  the  tenth  century  so  many  Scandinavian  fleet* 
had  sailed  down.  He  crossed  the  Dnieper  in  a  little  boat  with 
Mazeppa,  and  continued  his  route  to  Otchakof.  It  was  thus 
that  "  the  last  of  the  Varangians  and  the  last  of  the  free  Cos- 
sacks entered  the  land  of  the  Sultan  as  fugitives."  The  Swedes 
had  lost  about  10,000  men — 3000  were  taken  on  the  field  of 
battle ;  the  bulk  of  the  army,  which  had  continued,  under  Lew- 
enhaupt,  its  march  to  the  Dnieper,  had  to  pause  on  its  banks. 
Menchikof,  sent  there  hastily  by  the  Tzar,  obliged  16,000  more 
Swedes  to  lay  down  their  arms  (Capitulation  of  Perevolotchna). 
Of  the  magnificent  army  which  at  Leipzig  had  made  all  Europe 
tremble,  not  a  battalion  escaped. 

The  evening  after  the  battle  the  Tzar  received  in  his  tent 
those  Swedish  generals  whose  names  had  been  cited  among  the 
first  captains  of  the  age.  He  treated  these  glorious  prisoners 
courteously  and  drank  to  the  health  of  "  his  masters  in  the  art 
of  war."  He  accepted  the  grades  of  general  and  vice-admiral, 
the  Russian  churches  resounded  with  songs  of  triumph,  the 
Tzar  was  exalted  in  eloquent  sermons,  and  Kourbatof  wrote  to 
him,  "  Rejoice,  because  obedient  to  the  Word  of  God  thou  hast 
exposed  thy  life  for  thy  servants ;  rejoice,  because  thou  hast 
forged  thine  army  by  thy  courage,  as  men  heat  gold  in  a  fur- 
nace ;  rejoice,  because  thou  mayest  hope  for  the  realization  of 
thy  dearest  wish — the  domination  of  the  sea  of  the  Varangians." 
Peter  after  Pultowa,  like  Charles  after  Narva,  tasted  in  his  turn 
the  sweets  of  glory.  But  the  success  of  Pultowa  differed  from 
the  success  of  Narva.  Narva  had  been  only  a  victory  ;  Pultowa 
marks  a  new  era  in  universal  history.  Sweden,  which  under 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  again  under  Charles  XL,  had  played 
in  Europe  the  part  of  a  great  Power,  which  had  even  obtained 
an  importance  out  of  all  proportion  with  her  actual  resources, 
was  suddenly  relegated  to  the  third  rank  among  States.  The 
place  she  had  left  vacant  in  the  North  was  taken  by  a  nation 
which  had  at  its  disposal  far  larger  resources,  besides  a  greater 
power  of  expansion.  The  shores  of  the  Baltic  were  to  pass  into 
its  hands.  Already  Russia  declared  herself,  not  only  a  Power 
of  the  North,  but  a  Power  of  Europe.  Muscovy,  which,  had 
been  formerly  held  in  check  by  little  Sweden,  by  anarchic  Po- 
land, by  decrepit  Turkey,  or  even  by  the  Khan  of  the  Tatars, 
was  destined  to  become  formidable  to  France,  to  England,  and 
to  the  house  of  Austria.  With  Russia,  the  Slav  race,  so  long 
humiliated,  made  a  triumphal  entry  into  the  stage  of  the  world. 
Finally,  Pultowa  was  not  only  a  victory,  it  was  the  proof  of  tho 


HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  2 1 

regeneration  of  Russia  ;  it  justified  the  Tzar,  his  foreign  auxilia- 
ries, his  regular  army ;  it  left  his  hands  free  to  reform,  gave  to 
the  empire  a  new  capital,  and  promised  to  Europe  a  new  civilized 
people.  "  Now,"  he  wrote  to  Apraxine  from  the  field  of  battle, 
"  the  first  stone  for  the  foundation  of  St.  Petersburg  is  laid,  by 
the  h&lp  of  God." 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 


CHAPTER  II. 

PETER    THE   GREAT:     THE   REFORMS. 

General  character  of  the  reforms;  the  instruments  of  Peter  the  Great — Social 
reforms:  the  tchin;  emancipation  of  women — Administrative,  military, 
and  ecclesiastical  reforms — Economic  reforms;  manufactures — Utilitarian 
character  of  the  plans  of  education — Foundation  of  St.  Petersburg  (1703). 


GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMS :   THE  COLLABORATORS 

OF    PETER    THE   GREAT. 

1.  The  way  for  the  reforms  of  Peter  the  Great  had  been 
made  smooth  by  those  of  Alexis,  and  by  all  the  movement  of  the 
17th  century.  Under  the  Ivans,  under  Boris,  under  the  early 
Romanofs,  Russia  had  been  gradually  thrown  open  to  strangers. 
It  by  no  means  followed  that  the  whole  country  was  disposed  to 
follow  Peter  the  Great  in  his  innovations.  Opposed  to  him 
were  those  who  had  refused  to  accept  the  reforms  of  Nicon,  and 
many  who,  while  accepting  them,  had  no  idea  of  going  further. 
The  raskols,  and  certain  members  of  the  State  Church,  were  his 
enemies;  the  Russian  people  were  more  averse  to  innovation 
than  any  in  Europe.  "  Novelty  brings  calamity,"  says  a  prov- 
erb; the  nobles  were  also  hostile  to  everything  that  could  con- 
tribute to  autocratic  centralization. 

Peter  the  Great  found,  then,  a  steady  resistance  among  the 
majority  of  the  nation;  to  conquer  it,  where  persuasion  and  his 
own  example  did  not  suffice,  he  employed  the  energy  of  his 
semi-barbarous  character,  and  the  terrible  resources  of  absolute 
power.  By  main  force  he  dragged  the  nation  in  the  path  of 
progress;  at  every  page  of  his  reforming  edicts  we  find  the  knout 
and  the  penalty  of  death. 

2.  These  innovations  effected  by  the  prince  were  not  in- 
tended to  prejudice  his  own  authority;  nay,  they  had,  we  may 
say,  for  their  sole  end  the  transformation  of  a  patriarchal  into  a 
modern  despotism.  The  force  of  the  government  was  to  be  in- 
creased without  any  essential  change  in  its  character.  The  Tzar 
remained  as  much  an  autocrat  as  Ivan  the  Terrible,  but  his  au- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


*3 


thority  was  to  be  exercised  by  means  of  more  perfect  instru« 
merits,  and  by  agents  subjected  to  the  disciplines  and  rules  of 
the  West. 

3.  The  mass  of  the  people  still  remained  serfs  and  attached 
to  the  soil, — twenty  millions  of  human  beings  were  the  property 
of  the  territorial  oligarchy ;  but,  notwithstanding,  the  Russian 
nation  was  to  be  furnished  with  the  instruments  necessary  to 
enter  into  regular  communications  with  the  free  people  of  Eu- 
rope. Russia  was  to  seem  a  state  centralized  and  civilized  like 
the  France  of  Louis  XIV.,  yet  the  patriarchal  and  Asiatic  prin- 
ciple, which,  confounding  paternal  and  territorial  authority  with 
political  rule,  presided  over  the  relations  of  the  father  with  his 
children,  of  the  Tzar  with  his  subjects,  of  the  proprietor  with 
his  slaves,  of  the  superior  with  his  inferiors,  was  still  unim- 
paired. On  a  social  organization,  which  seemed  to  date  from 
the  nth  century,  were  to  rise  diplomacy,  a  regular  army,  a 
bureaucratic  hierarchy,  schools  and  academies,  and  the  trade 
and  manufactures  of  a  luxurious  civilization. 

4.  A  fourth  characteristic  of  the  reforms  of  Peter  the  Great 
was  that,  in  order  completely  to  transport  European  civilization 
into  Russia,  he  was  obliged  to  borrow  everything  from  strangers, 
without  always  having  the  time  to  choose  the  institutions  best 
suited  to  his  purpose.  What  was  meant  by  civilization  was  then, 
and  is  still,  the  civilization  of  the  West ;  therefore  Peter  sur- 
rounded himself  with  Dutchmen,  Englishmen,  Scotchmen,  Swiss, 
and  Germans.  For  the  same  reason  he  imported  in  the  mass 
manufactures,  trades,  and  artisans  ;  had  Western  books  trans- 
lated, and  sprinkled  his  administrative  terminology  with  words 
borrowed  from  Sweden  or  Germany.  That  he  might  introduce 
Western  ideas,  he  made  himself  a  Dutchman  and  a  German, 
forbade  his  subjects  to  wear  the  long  garments  peculiar  to  Asia, 
and  wished  them  to  adopt  the  short  trousers,  the  cocked  hat, 
and  buckled  shoes  of  Europe. 

5.  There  was  nothing  servile,  however,  in  this  imitation  ;  it 
was  the  method  of  a  man  of  genius,  who  wished  to  outstrip  time 
and  hasten  reforms  by  a  hundred  years.  He  intended  that  the 
Russians  should  be  the  pupils  and  not  the  subjects  of  the  Ger- 
mans ;  and  as  under  his  German  dress  he  remained  a  Russian 
patriot,  he  reserved  the  first  posts  in  the  army  and  State  for  the 
natives.  No  doubt  we  may  cite  among  his  fellow-workers  his 
admiral,  the  Genevese  Lefort  ;  the  Scotch  Gordon,  created 
general ;  Bruce,  a  Scotchman  born  in  Westphalia,  who  organ- 
ized the  artillery,  directed  the  diplomacy,  and  after  the  publica- 
tion of  the  almanack  passed  with  the  people  for  a  sorcerer  and 
a  magician.     Ostermann,  son  of  a  pastor  in  the  county  of  La 

Vol.  2  R    15 


*4 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


Marck,  was  a  skilful  negotiator,  of  whom  Peter  said  that  ha 
never  committed  faults  in  diplomacy  ;  Munich,  a  good  engineer, 
who  later  became  field-marshal,  and  meantime  constructed  for 
Peter  the  canal  of  the  Ladoga,  was  a  native  of  the  county  of 
Oldenburg.  But  among  the  chosen  companions  of  Peter  the 
Great,  in  the  nest  of  "Peter's  eaglets,"  as  Pouchkime  calls  them, 
we  find  many  Russians,  and  in  the  highest  post  among  these 
men  Menchikof,  a  "  new  man,"  who  rose  from  nothing  to  be- 
come prince,  field-marshal,  admiral,  and  conqueror,  but  whose 
probity  did  not  stand  as  high  as  his  talents.  Another  was  Boris 
Cheremetief,  a  great  noble,  whose  name  and  exploits  are  still 
preserved  in  the  songs  of  the  people,  who  travelled  in  the  West 
before  Peter,  and  came  back  to  Russia  in  German  clothes,  a 
man  as  honest  as  he  was  brave,  first  in  date  of  the  Russian 
marshals.  There  were  also  Dmitri  Mikhailovitch,  head  of  the 
princely  family  of  Galitsyne,  who  devoted  himself  to  the  re- 
former, though  detesting  "  new  men  "  ;  his  brother  Michael 
Galitsyne,  who  when  he  became  field-marshal  continued  to  show 
to  his  elder  brother  an  old-fashioned  deference,  and  refused  to 
sit  at  the  same  table  with  him  ;  Jacob  Dolgorouki,  who  could 
brave  the  wrath  of  Peter  and  force  him  to  hear  the  truth ;  Golo- 
vine,  high  admiral  and  diplomatist ;  Apraxine,  admiral,  con- 
queror on  the  Swedish  seas ;  the  diplomatist  Golvokine,  grand 
chancellor ;  Chafirof,  vice-chancellor  of  the  empire  ;  Gregory 
and  Vassili  Dolgorouki ;  Andrew  Matveef  ;  the  Kourakines, 
ambassadors,  father  and  son,  to  the  courts  of  the  West.  Not  to 
be  forgotten  are  the  intelligent  and  quick-tempered  Jagoujinski, 
afterwards  procurator-general  of  the  senate  ;  Tolstoi',  an  accom- 
plice of  Sophia,  pardoned  on  account  of  his  high  intelligence, 
an  excellent  negotiator  and  administrator  of  justice  ;  Romoda- 
novski,  the  cruel  director  of  the  State  inquisition  ;  Kourbatof, 
the  financier  of  the  new  regime,  besides  three  Little  Russians, 
three  ecclesiastics,  three  brilliant  pupils  of  the  Academy  of  Kief, 
— Saint  Dmitri  of  Rostof,  Stephen  Javorski,  and  Feofane  Pro- 
kopovitch,  to  whom  we  must  add  the  bishop  Feofilakt  Lopatinski. 
Such  were  the  Russian  men  of  the  vremia  of  Peter  the  Great. 


SOCIAL   REFORMS  :   THE    "  TCHIN  ;  "  EMANCIPATION    OF   WOMEN. 

The  most  numerous  class  in  Russia  was  that  on  which  the  re- 
form made  the  State  press  with  a  daily  increasing  weight,  and 
which  paid  by  the  sweat  of  its  brow  for  the  expenses  of  regener- 
ation— the  rural  population.  It  was  subdivided  into  odnovortsi, 
peasants  with  a  free  or  even  noble  origin  ,  into  farmers  on  the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


23 


metayer  system  ( polavinki),  who  cultivated  the  land  of  the  nobles 
and  handed  over  to  them  half  the  products,  but  who  had  re- 
tained their  personal  liberty;  into  peasants  of  the  crown,  of  the 
monasteries  and  of  proprietors,  all  attached  to  the  soil.  The 
edicts  of  Peter  confounded  all  these  classes,  and  subjected  all 
the  cultivators  to  a  capitation  tax  and  a  fixed  residence :  this 
was  equivalent  to  serfage.  The  reasons  which  had  caused  Go- 
dounof  to  legalize  their  attachment  to  the  soil  still  subsisted  in 
all  their  original  force,  and  were  likely  to  cause  severe  legisla- 
tion. The  tax  on  the  fires  became  the  tax  upon  heads,  and  the 
proprietors,  by  a  considerable  augmentation  of  their  seignorial 
authority,  were  intrusted  with  its  collection.  Peter  the  Great 
merely  promulgated  an  edict  which  sought  to  regulate  the  sale 
of  slaves.  "  If  the  sale  cannot  be  abolished  completely,  slaves 
must  be  sold  by  families  without  separating  husbands  from  wives, 
parents  from  children,  and  no  longer  like  head  of  cattle,  a  thing 
unheard  of  in  the  whole  world."  This  act,  at  least  in  its  philan- 
thropic clauses,  never  received  any  sanction.  Anne  Ivanovna 
later  legalized  this  shameful  abuse  by  collecting  her  dues  on  the 
sale  of  slaves. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  towns  were  divided  into  three  catego- 
ries. To  the  first  belonged  bankers,  manufacturers,  rich  traders, 
physicians,  chemists,  capitalists,  merchants,  jewellers,  workers  in 
metal,  and  artists ;  to  the  second,  small  traders  and  masters  of 
crafts  ;  to  the  third,  the  lowest  class  of  journeymen  and  artisans. 
The  first  two  of  these  divisions  took  the  German  name  of  "  first 
and  second  guilds,"  and  were  invested  with  certain  privileges. 

Foreigners  obtained  the  right  of  freely  engaging  in  trade  or 
commerce,  of  acquiring  real  property,  of  intermarrying  with  Russi- 
ans, of  entering  the  service  of  the  State,  of  practising  their  respec- 
tive modes  of  worship,  and  of  leaving  the  empire  at  will,  on  con- 
dition of  giving  up  the  tenth  of  their  goods. 

The  Russian  nobility  assumed  the  character  of  a  nobility 
based  on  service.  The  two  ideas  of  nobility  and  the  service  of  the 
Tzar  became  correlative.  Every  noble  was  obliged  to  serve, 
and  whoever,  Russian  or  foreigner,  entered  the  service  of  the 
State  became  a  gentleman.  Peter  the  Great  was  as  inexorable  as 
Louvois  in  exacting  service  from  the  aristocracy  •'  every  dvorianine 
was  at  the  disposal  of  the  government  till  his  death.  Thus  was 
the  distinction  finally  effaced  between  the  two  kinds  of  lands 
possessed  by  the  nobles,  the  pomiestia,  or  fiefs,  and  the  votchiny 
or  allods  ;  both  were  henceforward  only  held  as  fiefs  of  the  Tzar, 
on  condition  ol  military  service.  Up  to  this  time  the  civil, 
military,  naval,  and  ecclesiastical  hierarchies  had  no  common 
standard.     Peter  established  in  each  hierarchy  corresponding 


2  6  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS1A. 

grades,  confounded  hereditary  nobility  and  the  nobility  of 
service,  and  distributed  the  officers  of  the  State  among  the 
fourteen  degrees  of  the  Tchin.  These  extended,  in  the  civil 
order,  from  the  registrar  of  the  college  to  the  chancellor  of  the 
empire  ;  in  the  military  order,  from  the  cornet  or  ensign  to  the 
field-marshal ;  in  the  fleet,  from  the  standard-bearer  to  the  high 
admiral ;  in  the  court,  from  the  tafeldecker  to  the  grand  chamber- 
lain ;  in  the  Church,  from  the  deacon  to  the  metropolitan. 

Peter  borrowed  from  German  legislation  a  settlement  wholly 
antipathetic  to  the  Russian  laws,  which  insisted  on  equality  in 
the  division  of  property.  He  introduced  the  custom  ("  Majorat ") 
by  which  the  property  passed  to  the  heir  with  the  title.  In  virtue 
of  this  new  law,  the  land  of  a  noble  belonged  exclusively  to  the 
eldest,  or  to  one  of  the  sons  nominated  heir  by  his  father. 
Peter  saw  in  this  practice,  which  was  to  survive  him  but  a  short 
time,  the  following  advantages  :  the  noble  families  could  no  longer 
ruin  and  impoverish  themselves  by  repeated  partitions  of  the 
property;  the  peasants  would  be  happier  under  the  rule  of  one 
rich  proprietor  than  under  that  of  his  needy  co-heirs ;  the 
younger  branches,  no  longer  reckoning  on  the  paternal  estate, 
would  be  obliged  to  seek  their  livelihood  in  commerce  or  in  the 
service  of  the  State,  "  idleness  being  the  mother  of  all  the  vices." 
The  younger  members  of  the  nobility  were  besides  only  to  be 
admitted  into  the  service  under  certain  conditions  of  elementary 
or  special  instruction,  and  technical  preparation.  Even  marriage 
was  forbidden  to  an  uneducated  gentleman.  The  foundation  of 
the  orders  of  Saint  Andrew  and  Saint  Catherine  finished  the 
destruction  of  the  barrier  of  caste. 

The  seclusion  of  women  was  an  Asiatic  custom  with  which 
Peter  waged  fierce  war.  He  would  abolish  the  terem  locked 
"with  twenty-seven  bolts,"  the  fata  over  the  face,  and  litters  with 
closed  curtains.  Six  weeks  before  every  marriage  the  betrothal 
was  to  take  place,  and  from  that  moment  the  bridal  pair  might 
freely  see  each  other,  and  might  even  break  off  the  engagement 
if  they  were  not  satisfied  on  further  acquaintance.  Fathers  and 
guardians  had  to  swear  that  they  would  not  marry  young  people 
against  their  will  ;  and  masters,  that  they  would  not  force  the 
consent  of  their  slaves.  Midwives  were  forbidden  to  put  to  death 
misshapen  infants.  Peter  the  Great  took  wives  and  daughters 
from  their  domestic  cloisters,  and  brought  them  into  the  life  of 
European  salons.  He  instituted  assemblies,  free  meetings  which 
might  take  place  in  any  house,  where  men  and  women  appeared 
in  European  dress,  where  they  partook  together  of  refreshments, 
danced  Polish  or  German  dances,  and  where  French  or  Swedish 
prisoners  served    as  teachers  of  manners.      The   assemblies 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


27 


of  Peter  the  Great  were  at  first  only  a  parody  of  those  of 
Versailles.  Bergholtz  complains  that  men  allowed  themselves 
to  smoke  in  the  presence  of  the  ladies ;  that  the  ladies  sat  apart, 
embarrassed,  dressed  up,  silently  watching  each  other ;  that  the 
drunken  nobles  were  often  carried  away  by  their  drunken 
lackeys.  Did  not  Peter  himself  institute  as  a  punishment  for 
any  breach  of  good  behavior  the  emptying  of  the  "  great  eagle," 
a  huge  goblet  filled  with  brandy  ?  To  amuse  the  new  society 
and  give  life  to  his  capital,  he  invented  masquerades,  cavalcades 
of  disguised  lords  and  ladies,  the  feast  of  fools,  the  Great  Con- 
clave, presided  over  by  the  "  Prince-pope "  surrounded  by 
"  Cardinals  "  dead' drunk.  He  forbade  the  use  of  servile  dimin- 
utives and  prostrations  before  the  Tzar,  and  by  blows  with  his 
cane  he  taught  his  nobility  to  feel  themselves  free  men  and 
Europeans. 


ADMINISTRATIVE,    MILITARY,    AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   REFORMS. 

The  ancient  douma  of  the  boyards  was  replaced  by  the 
u  directing  senate,"  composed  of  nine  members,  which  at  first 
never  acted  save  in  the  absence  of  the  prince.  The  number  was 
afterwards  increased,  and  it  became  permanently  both  the  great 
council  of  government,  high  committee  of  finance,  and  supreme 
court  of  justice.  Peter  commanded  the  Senate  to  be  obeyed 
like  himself,  but  on  all  important  questions  the  Senate  made  its 
report  to  the  Tzar.  He  appointed,  in  connection  with  this  body, 
a  procurator-general,  charged  with  superintending  the  execution 
of  the  laws.  Peter  often  reproached  the  new  senators  with  con- 
ducting affairs  "  after  the  old  fashion,"  with  dragging  out 
deliberations,  and  taking  bribes.  He  had  to  make  a  new  rule, 
in  virtue  of  which  senators  were  forbidden,  under  different 
penalties,  to  cry  out,  to  beat  each  other,  or  to  call  each  other 
thieves. 

Peter  suppressed  the  ancient  Muscovite prikazes.  He  created 
instead,  by  the  advice  of  Leibnitz,  and  after  the  German  model, 
"  colleges  "  of  government  similar  to  those  by  which  the  regent 
Orleans  replaced  the  ministers  of  Louis  XIV.  There  were  ten 
of  these  colleges :  those  of  foreign  affairs,  war,  admiralty, 
treasury,  revenue,  justice,  property  of  the  nobles,  manufactures, 
mines,  and  commerce.  A  collection  of  Swedish  edicts  was  trans- 
lated for  their  use.  As  they  had  few  capable  men,  strangers 
were  employed,  in  the  proportion  of  one  for  each  college,  and 
often  they  were  obliged  to  resort  to  interpreters  to  enable  them 
to  understand  each  other.     Captive  Swedish  officers  and  dra- 


23  HISTGR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

goons  might  be  seen  administering  the  empire.  Peter  sent  for 
Slavs  from  Bohemia,  Silesia,  and  Moravia,  as  being  quicker  at 
learning  the  Russian  language.  He  despatched  forty  young 
men  to  Konigsberg  to  study  the  elements  of  administration  and 
finance.  This  autocrat  permitted  his  colleges  to  elect  their 
presidents.  In  1722  the  office  of  president  of  the  college  of 
justice  being  vacant,  he  assembled  at  the  palace  the  senators, 
generals,  officers,  and  a  hundred  members  of  the  nobility,  and 
after  having  taken  their  oaths  made  them  proceed  to  the  election 
in  his  presence. 

Before  Peter  the  Great  the  provincial  governments  were  in 
hopeless  confusion.  The  governors  of  provinces  and  the  voi'e- 
vodes  directed  at  once  war,  finance,  justice,  and  superinten- 
dence of  buildings.  Peter  divided  the  empire  into  twelve 
governments,  subdivided  into  forty-three  provinces  ;  the  former 
were  administered  by  governors  and  vice-governors,  the  latter  by 
vo'ievodes.  These  representatives  of  the  sovereign  were  as- 
sisted by  a  council,  or  landrath,  elected  by  the  nobles.  The 
towns  received  an  autonomous  and  municipal  government ;  the 
citizens  elected  burgomasters,  and  these  a  president  or  mayor. 
The  burgomasters  and  the  mayor  formed  the  rathhaus  or  cor- 
poration of  the  city.  In  special  cases  the  citizens  of  the  first 
and  second  guilds  were  summoned  to  the  council.  All  the  mag- 
istrates of  Russia  were  subject  to  a  chief  magistrate,  chosen 
from  the  municipal  council  of  St.  Petersburg,  of  which  one-half 
was  composed  of  foreigners.  The  chief  magistrate  watched 
over  the  prosperity  of  commerce  and  manufactures,  sanctioned 
the  sentences  of  death  pronounced  by  the  corporations  of  the 
province,  decided  disputes  between  the  rathhaus  and  the  citi- 
zens, confirmed  the  municipal  elections,  and  sent  in  reports  ta 
the  Senate.  He  was  nominated  by  the  Tzar.  The  towns  had 
their  landmiliz.  The  patriarchal  and  socialist  constitution  of 
the  rural  communes  was  not  touched. 

Ignorance,  inexperience,  and  corruption  were  the  vices  of 
the  new  administration.  The  functionaries  had  always  present 
to  their  minds  the  advice  of  the  ancient  Tzars — "  Look  to  thy 
office,  and  indemnify  thyself."  Peter  attacked  with  fury  this 
deeply-rooted  abuse,  practised  by  the  chief  personages  of  the 
the  empire,  headed  by  Menchikof.  The  exactions  of  the 
governor  provoked  a  revolt  at  Astrakhan.  Another  governor 
of  the  same  city  was  condemned  by  Peter  to  be  torn  by  pigs. 
Gagarine,  governor  of  Siberia,  and  Lapoukhine,  of  Revel,  were 
decapitated.  Chafirof  was  pardoned  on  the  scaffold.  Nes- 
terof,  after  having  made  the  denunciation  of  thieves  a  profes- 
sion, was  himself  broken  on  the  wheel  as  a  thief.     One  day 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


29 


Peter  made  one  of  his  nobles  show  him  the  accounts  of  his  ex- 
penditure, and  proved  to  him  that  he  himself  robbed  the  State, 
and  was  robbed  in  turn  by  his  steward.  The  Tzar  beat  him  with 
his  own  hand,  and  said  to  him,  "  Now  go  and  find  your  steward, 
and  settle  accounts  with  him."  It  is  said  that  Menchikof  him- 
self was  not  safe  against  the  imperial  correction.  The  recruits 
were  the  chief  sufferers  from  their  extortions.  These  unhappy 
men,  who  were  torn  from  their  native  villages  and  chained  like 
galley-slaves,  were  thrown  into  prison  on  arriving  at  their  halt- 
ing-place, were  fed  upon  mushrooms  which  their  captains  made 
them  graze  on  in  the  forests,  and  naturally  died  by  hundreds 
before  reaching  their  regiments.  Peter  was  obliged  to  invite 
his  subjects  to  denounce  the  thieves  by  promising  to  give  the 
accusers  the  tchin  and  the  fortune  of  the  accused. 

The  code  of  Alexis  Mikhailovitch  was  no  longer  suitable  to 
the  Russia  of  Peter  the  Great.  The  latter  wished  to  adopt  the 
Swedish  code,  and  to  modify  what  was  inapplicable  in  it  to  the 
Russians  by  means  of  ancient  Muscovite  laws,  or  new  legisla- 
tion. This  project  could  not  be  realized.  In  criminal  cases  he 
still  employed  torture,  though  with  mitigations.  He  replaced 
the  old  pravege  by  labor  in  the  public  works.  He  introduced  a 
written  procedure  in  the  tribunals,  which  had  all  the  faults  of  an 
inquisitorial  procedure.  Justice  was  administered  in  various  dis- 
tricts, now  by  tribunals  properly  so  called,  now  by  the  voievodes, 
the  landrichter,  or  by  the  magistrates  of  the  towns.  At  Peters- 
burg sat  the  supreme  court,  consisting  of  delegates  from  the 
Senate. 

The  Petersburg  police  was  controlled  by  the  general  politz- 
meister,  that  of  Moscow  by  the  ober-politz-meister.  In  the  large 
towns  there  was  an  inspector  of  police  for  every  ten  houses  ;  all 
the  citizens  over  twenty  years  of  age  had  to  enter  the  service  of  the 
watch.  The  governors,  voievodes,  commissioners  of  the  coun- 
try, and  all  who  held  authority  were  responsible  for  the  public 
safety.  The  Russia  of  that  date  needed  strict  superintendence. 
Moscow,  whose  streets  were  common  sewers,  began  to  be  paved 
with  wood.  Servants,  under  penalty  of  fines,  stripes,  or  the 
knout,  were  enjoined  to  keep  the  house-front  clean.  Beggars 
multiplied  ;  well-to-do  citizens  were  not  ashamed  to  ask  for 
alms,  or  to  send  their  children  to  beg  in  the  streets  ;  they  were 
in  future  to  be  arrested  and  taken  before  the  police.  People 
who  pretended  to  be  in  the  public  service  and  were  furnished 
with  false  credentials,  and  imposed  on  the  credulity  of  the  peas- 
ants, were  sought  out  and  punished.  Hospitals  were  established 
for  the  sick,  workhouses  for  vagabonds,  mad  people  were  housed 
together,  coiners  and  forgers  were  rigorously  proceeded  against* 


3° 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


Most  difficult  of  all  to  deal  with  were  the  brigands.  Brigand- 
age was  habitual  in  Russia,  and  was  favored  by  the  vast  and 
vacant  wilds,  the  deep  forests,  the  passive  temper  of  the  peas- 
ants, who  did  not  dare  to  arm  for  the  defence  of  one  of  their 
members,  and  would  allow  him  to  be  despoiled  and  tortured  in 
presence  of  the  whole  village  by  a  few  bandits.  The  brigands 
formed  themselves  into  great  troops,  armed  and  disciplined  in 
the  European  manner,  furnished  with  cavalry  and  artillery  ;  they 
pillaged  the  Crown  taverns,  burned  the  villages,  invaded  the 
dwellings  of  the  nobles,  and  took  the  small  towns  by  assault. 
Their  recruits  were  Cossacks,  fugitive  peasants,  soldiers  who 
had  deserted,  unfrocked  priests ;  gentlemen  and  even  noble 
ladies  were  seen  riding  at  their  head,  thus  augmenting  their 
revenues  by  robbery.  Battles  had  to  be  fought  before  security 
could  be  restored. 

The  open  or  sullen  opposition  his  reforms  met  with  caused 
Peter  to  create  a  State  inquisition.  This  opposition  came  to 
light  on  all  occasions.  The  ladies  of  honor,  who  wore  the 
European  costume  when  the  Tzar  was  present,  threw  it  off  with 
contempt  when  he  went  away.  Insulting  placards  were  affixed 
to  the  walls.  Even  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  family  the  Tzar 
met  with  hostilty.  He  instituted  the  bureau  of  reformation 
(Prfobrajenskoe  prikaz),  or  secret  court  of  police,  which  has  left  a 
terrible  memory.  To  ruin  his  enemy  a  man  had  only  to  raise 
the  cry  of  slovo  i  dielo  (word  and  deed),  immediately  the  accuser 
and  accused  were  arrested  and  conducted  to  the  "  hall  of  the 
question,"  which  the  latter  seldom  left  unconvicted. 

In  the  matter  of  finance  Peter  replaced  the  tax  on  fires, 
which  gave  rise  to  perpetual  disputes,  by  a  poll-tax.  Ecclesias- 
tics, nobles,  broken  soldiers,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Baltic  prov- 
inces, Bachkirs,  and  Lapps  were  alone  exempted  from  it.  Even 
free  peasants  were  liable.  Kourbatof  introduced  the  tax  of  the 
eagle  paper  (gerbova'ia  boumaghd),  or  stamped  paper.  But  in  the 
midst  of  the  terrible  necessities  of  war  Peter  had  recourse  to 
other  expedients.  The  officials  were  often  deprived  of  part  of 
their  pay.  The  raskolniks  were  doubly  taxed.  Those  who 
wore  beards  had  to  pay  from  30  to  100  roubles,  according  to 
their  fortune.  The  peasants  were  taxed  two  deniers  for  their 
beards  when  they  entered  the  towns.  Baths,  mills,  huts,  and 
bees  were  taxed. 

One  day  Peter  ordered  all  oak  coffins  at  the  makers'  to  be 
seized  and  sold  for  his  profit.  The  crown  had  for  a  long  while 
absorbed  the  commerce  of  soda,  potash,  and  of  tar,  which  were 
the  produce  of  the  forests  of  the  north.  The  revenues  of  the 
State,  in  fifteen  years  alone,  from  1710  to  1725,  rose  from  three 
to  ten  million  roubles. 


NIS TORY  OF  R USS1A.  3 1 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  sirelisi,  the  regular  army  was 
composed  of  infantry  and  dragoons,  dressed  in  European  uni- 
forms, and  raised  to  210,000  men.  The  peasantry  were  sub- 
jected to  a  system  of  conscription,  which  was  to  be  for  long 
a  source  of  despotism  and  tyranny.  At  this  period  was  formed 
a  whole  popular  literature  of  "  lamentations  of  recruits."  The 
irregular  troops  of  the  Cossacks  and  the  tribes  of  the  east  fur- 
nished endless  numbers  of  soldiers.  A  maritime  conscription 
was  established  along  the  banks  of  the  lakes,  rivers,  and  the  sea. 
Soon  the  Russian  fleet  numbered  48  ships  of  the  line,  800  boats 
of  a  lower  class,  and  28,000  sailors. 

On  the  death  of  the  patriarch  Adrian,  who  had  little  sympa- 
thy with  the  reforms  (1700),  Peter  conferred  on  Stephen  Javor- 
ski  the  title  of  "  Superintendent  of  the  Patriarchal  Throne." 
Peter  had  resolved  to  abolish  this  institution  of  Godounof,  and 
to  give  to  the  Church  herself  the  collegiate  organization  with 
which  he  was  at  that  time  so  fascinated.  The  preamble  of  the 
edict  instituting  the  Holy  Synod,  which  was  compiled  by  Feo. 
fane  Prokopovitch,  is  very  curious  :  "  The  collegiate  organiza^ 
tion  will  not  cause  the  country  to  fear  the  troubles  and  seditions 
that  may  arise  when  only  one  man  finds  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  Church.  The  simple  people  are  not  quick  to  seize  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  spiritual  and  imperial  power ;  struck  with 
the  virtue  and  the  splendor  of  the  supreme  pastor  of  the  Church, 
they  imagine  that  he  is  a  second  sovereign,  equal  and  even  su- 
perior in  power  to  the  autocrat.  If  a  dispute  takes  place  between 
the  Patriarch  and  the  Tzar,  they  are  disposed  to  take  the  side 
of  the  former,  believing  that  they  thus  embrace  the  cause  of 
God."  This  mistrust  of  the  spiritual  power  is  again  found  in 
the  Oukaze,  where  bishops  are  recommended  to  avoid  pride  and 
show,  never  to  allow  themselves  to  be  supported  under  the  arm 
in  walking,  unless  they  are  ill,  and  to  permit  no  prostrations  be- 
fore them.  In  the  same  manner  as  Peter  had  suppressed  the 
hetmanate  and  established  the  College  of  Little  Russia,  he  sup 
pressed  the  patriarchate,  and  founded  the  Holy  Synod.  He 
wished  to  be  sole  emperor  in  Moscow,  as  in  the  Ukraine. 

The  Holy  Synod  was  composed  of  a  certain  number  of 
bishops,  among  whom  a  procurator-general,  often  a  soldier,  rep- 
resented the  Tzar.  The  Holy  Synod  was  to  be  the  instrument 
of  reform  in  the  Church.  Each  bishop  was  ordered  to  keep  a 
school  in  his  palace  ;  the  sons  of  the  popes  who  refused  to  be 
educated  were  to  be  taken  as  soldiers.  The  grave  question  of 
monasteries  was  re-opened,  but  Peter  did  not  yet  dare  to  under- 
take the  liquidation  of  their  property.  As  Russia  needed  to  be 
peopled,  no  Russian  was  allowed  to  become  a  monk  till  he  waa 


3  2  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

thirty.  No  servant  of  the  State  might  enter  a  cloister  without 
leave.  As  the  monks  showed  themselves  more  and  more  hos- 
tile  to  reform,  they  were  forbidden  to  shut  themselves  up  to 
write,  or  to  have  ink  or  pens  in  their  cells.  They  were,  how- 
ever, compelled  to  work  at  some  trade.  Hospitals  and  schools 
were  given  into  their  charge,  and  also  broken-down  soldiers,  who 
/ound  in  the  monastery  an  honorable  asylum.  The  bishops,  on 
the  contrary,  were  encouraged  by  Peter  to  write.  Stephen 
Javorski  published  his  book  called  '  The  Signs  of  the  Antichrist,' 
to  refute  Talitski,  who  had  seen  in  the  reforms  of  Peter  the 
omens  of  the  end  of  the  world.  As  Voltaire  relates,  Talitski 
was  put  to  death,  and  Javorski  rewarded.  '  The  Stone  of  the 
Faith,'  another  of  his  works,  was  directed  against  Protestantism, 
while  Saint  Dmitri  of  Rostof  wrote  his  '  Researches  on  the 
Raskolnik  Church  of  Brynsk/ 

Assailed  at  once  by  the  religions  of  the  West  and  by  the 
raskol  sects,  the  orthodox  Church  was  forced  to  defend  herself. 
The  raskols  were  about  this  time  divided  into  communities  with 
priests  and  communities  without  priests  (bezpopovchtchina).  The 
most  fanatical  raskolniks  fled  into  the  deep  forests,  and  there 
founded  hermitages  and  even  centres  of  population,  which  es- 
caped for  a  long  while  the  knowledge  of  government.  Tracked 
and  driven  to  extremity,  certain  enthusiasts  burned  themselves 
in  a  sort  of  auto  daft.  Many  of  these  shepherds  of  the  desert, 
like  Daniel  Vikoulof  and  the  brothers  Denissof,  made  themselves 
famous  by  polemical  works.  Peter  wished  to  relax  the  sys- 
tems of  preceding  regimes,  and  protected  all  peaceable  subjects 
who  did  not  interfere  with  politics.  Passing  though  the  deserts 
of  the  Vyga,  he  found  there  a  colony  of  industrious  raskolniks, 
ordered  them  to  be  left  in  peace,  and  begged  them  to  pray  for 
him.  "  God,"  he  said,  "  has  given  the  Tzar  power  over  the 
nations,  but  Christ  alone  has  power  over  the  consciences  of 
men."  He  contented  himself  with  doubling  the  taxes,  and  im- 
posing a  peculiar  dress  on  the  raskolniks  of  Moscow.  Being 
however,  a  true  believer,  he  regarded  the  faith  of  the  raskol  as 
an  error,  and  did  not  wish  it  to  spread.  Penalties  were  enforc- 
ed against  its  propagators,  and  precautions  taken  with  regard  to 
their  listeners.  The  proper  attendance  every  Sunday  at  church 
and  an  Easter  Communion  became  a  matter  of  obligation. 

He  followed  the  same  policy  with  regard  to  Western  relig- 
ions, allowed  foreigners  to  have  their  churches  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, and  himself  attended  the  French  church,  where  his  chair 
is  still  preserved.  The  Nevski  Prospect,  bordered  with  dissent- 
ing churches,  was  the  "  prospect  of  tolerance."  He  protected 
the  Capuchins  established  at  Astrakhan,  and  even  tried  to  live 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


33 


on  good  terms  with  the  Jesuits  ;  but  as  they  continued  to  work 
at  their  propaganda,  they  were  banished  in  1689,  then  recalled, 
then  again  definitely  expelled  in  17 10.  "  He  endured  the  Capu- 
chins," says  Voltaire,  "  as  being  monks  of  no  consequence,  but 
regarded  the  Jesuits  as  dangerous  political  enemies."  The 
friend  of  the  Dutch  and  the  English  persecuted  the  foreign 
Protestants  who  insulted  the  orthodox  faith  by  word  or  deed. 
A  Russian  woman,  Nastasia  Zima,  having  spread  the  principles 
of  Luther,  was  conducted,  with  her  husband  and  six  other 
neophytes,  before  the  terrible  secret  chamber,  and  was  cruelly 
tortured. 


ECONOMIC   REFORMS  :    MANUFACTURES. 

Peter  the  Great  had  toiled  so  hard  to  establish  himself  on 
the  Baltic  because  he  felt  that  the  White  Sea,  frozen  over  for  so 
many  months  in  the  year,  was  insufficient  to  secure  to  Russia 
uninterrupted  communication  with  the  West.  When  St.  Peters- 
burg was  founded,  he  wished  to  suppress  Arkhangel  for  the 
benefit  of  the  new  port,  and  forbade  the  merchants  to  carry  their 
merchandise  down  the  Dwina.  This  project  met  with  the  most 
lively  opposition.  Apraxine  assured  him  that  such  a  measure 
would  be  the  ruin  of  Russian  commerce.  The  Dutch  traders 
and  the  Hanseatic  towns  represented  that  the  money  they  had 
spent  in  establishing  themselves  at  Arkhangel  would  be  lost, 
that  it  would  be  necessary  to  build  vessels  for  the  Baltic  on  an 
entirely  different  model,  that  they  were  obliged  to  pay  Sound 
dues,  and  that  in  case  of  a  war  the  smallest  merchant  ships 
would  there  need  a  convoy.  The  Russians  who  were  accus- 
tomed to  go  to  Arkhangel  showed  great  repugnance  to  the  jour- 
ney to  St.  Petersburg,  across  a  wide  space  without  forage,  and 
where  they  would  find  no  inns  such  as  had  been  established  for 
centuries  on  the  route  to  the  White  Sea.  It  was  necessary  to 
make  a  complete  revolution  in  the  habits  of  Russian  commerce, 
in  the  distribution  of  the  centres  of  industry  and  of  the  ~epots. 
The  conductors  of  the  caravan,  in  despair  at  the  length  of  the 
voyage,  often  deserted,  abandoning  tre  wagons,  or  pillaging 
the  merchandise.  Peter  the  Great  yielded,  leaving  time  to 
justify  his  preference  for  the  new  city.  He  authorized  trade 
both  by  way  of  Arkhangel  and  St.  Petersburg,  contenting  him- 
self with  raising  by  a  fourth  the  tarif*  of  customs  of  the  former 
town.  Above  all,  he  resolved  to  connect  the  city  of  the  Neva 
with  the  great  river  artery  of  Russia,  the  Volga.  To  this  end 
he  created  the  canal  of  the  Ladoga,  projected  a  communication 


34 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


of  the  White  Sea  with  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  and  hoped  to  unite 
the  Black  Sea  with  the  Caspian  by  means  of  a  canal  between 
the  Don  and  the  Volga. 

Peter  negotiated  treaties  of  commerce  with  many  European 
States,  stirred  up  the  national  agriculture,  whose  progress  had 
been  hindered  by  the  slavery  of  the  people,  promulgated  an 
edict  which  forced  them  to  reap  with  scythes,  instead  of  the  old 
hooks,  encouraged  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  and  the  mulberry 
in  the  regions  of  the  south-east,  ordered  tobacco  to  be  planted, 
introduced  new  kinds  of  cattle  into  the  central  provinces  (such 
as  that  of  Kholmogory),  stimulated  sheep-farming,  which  was 
necessary  for  wool  factories,  sent  for  Silesian  shepherds,  and 
made  the  Russians  go  to  learn  their  trade  in  Silesia,  and 
created  besides  the  imperial  stud.  He  took  measures  to  pre- 
serve the  forests,  and  sought  for  beds  of  combustible  minerals. 
To  counteract  the  indolence  of  such  nobles  as  might  have  mines 
upon  their  lands,  he  declared  that,  in  the  case  of  their  remain- 
ing unworked,  strangers  should  have  leave  to  work  them,  paying 
only  a  small  premium  to  the  proprietor.  He  decreed  stripes 
and  the  penalty  of  death  against  any  one  who  should  dare  to 
interfere  with  the  mining  labors  and  researches.  Under  him 
began  the  fortunes  of  the  Demidofs,  the  great  metallurgists,  as 
in  the  reign  of  Ivan  IV.  the  fortunes  of  the  Strogonofs.  He 
founded  and  encouraged  his  courtiers  to  found  manufactures  of 
chemical  productions  ;  of  cloth,  from  the  managers  of  which  he 
purchased  the  materials  which  he  wanted  for  the  uniforms  of 
the  army;  of  sail-cloth,  for  which  the  navy  would  furnish  a 
ready  market.  The  French  were  specially  skilled  in  making 
use  of  the  Russian  wool.  The  Russians  owe  them  the  first 
manufactories  of  tapestries;  a  Frenchman  named  Manvriou 
opened  a  stocking  manufactory  at  Moscow.  The  Englishman 
Humphrey  introduced  an  improvement  in  the  fabrication  of 
Russian  leather ;  the  Tzar  required  every  town  to  send  a  certain 
number  of  shoemakers  to  take  lessons  in  their  art  at  Moscow, 
threatening  them,  if  they  continued  t6  work  in  their  old  way, 
with  confiscation  and  the  galleys.  The  admiral  Apraxine  manu- 
factured silk  brocades.  A  mougik  invented  a  lacquer  superior 
to  anything  in  Europe,  except  that  of  Venice.  Thanks  to  the 
versatility  of  the  national  genius,  economic  progress  would  have 
immensely  developed  if  the  Tzar  had  been  able  to  secure  the 
Russian  merchants  against  the  cupidity  of  the  great  and  the  ex- 
actions of  the  officials,  a  danger  already  noted  by  Fletcher  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  Notwithstanding  this  drawback,  more 
than  two  hundred  mills  were  opened  in  this  reign. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


UTILITARIAN   CHARACTER    OF   THE   ESTABLISHMENTS    FOR 

INSTRUCTION. 


35 


Peter  the  Great  took  great  pains  with  the  education  of  his 
people.  He  felt  that  the  surest  means  of  obtaining  those  who 
would  help  him  and  would  continue  his  work  was  gradually  to 
initiate  the  nation  into  his  new  ideas,  and  little  by  little  to 
reconcile  them  to  reform.  He  especially  insisted  on  the  edu- 
cation of  the  sons  of  nobles  and  priests,  for  the  means  of  in- 
structing the  mass  of  the  people  had  long  been  wanting.  A 
certain  number  of  elementary  schools  were,  however,  founded 
in  all  the  provinces,  and  the  pupils  of  the  mathematical  schools 
of  St.  Petersburg  were  sent  there  as  masters.  These  schools 
of  Peter's  had  all  a  practical  character  and  a  present  utility. 
Classical  studies  were  neglected,  and  he  did  not  trouble  himself 
to  create  supplementary  establishments  to  the  Greco-Latin 
academy  at  Moscow.  In  his  fierce  struggle  with  the  forces  of 
the  past  he  hastened  to  throw  Russia  open  to  his  natural  auxilia- 
ries, the  ideas  and  sciences  of  the  West.  The  schools  he  multi- 
plied were  special  schools — a  naval  academy,  a  school  of  engi- 
neers, a  school  of  book-keeping.  The  literature  he  encouraged 
was  a  literature  of  translation,  which  enabled  a  huge  mass  of 
European  ideas  to  be  introduced  in  the  lump  ;  or  else  a  polemic 
literature,  to  plead  the  cause  of  reform  before  the  opinion  of  Rus- 
sians and  foreigners.  It  was  for  this  reason  he  had  an  enormous 
number  of  technical  books  translated,  employing  for  the  purpose 
the  professors  of  the  Greco-Latin  academy,  the  brothers  Likhoudi, 
who  had  retired  to  Novgorod,  and  even  the  members  of  the 
synod.  They  worked  at  Moscow,  and  many  books  were  tran- 
slated abroad,  some  at  first  into  Tcheque,  so  that  the  Musco- 
vites might  more  easily  reproduce  them  in  their  own  tongue. 
History,  geography,  jurisprudence,  political  economy,  naviga- 
tion, military  sciences,  agriculture,  and  languages,  were  soon 
represented  in  Russia  by  numerous  books,  translations  from 
Western  languages.  Peter  himself  gave  his  brigade  of  writers 
advice  which  shows  his  practical  sense,  and  even  his  instinc- 
tive literary  taste.  "  You  must,"  he  said  to  Zotof,  "  beware  of 
translating  word  for  word  without  knowing  the  complete  mean- 
ing of  the  text.  You  must  read  with  care,  become  penetrated 
with  the  sense  of  your  author,  must  be  able  to  think  his  thoughts 
in  Russian,  and  only  after  that  try  to  reproduce  them."  He 
also  recommended  them  to  refrain  from  long  dissertations  and 
useless  digressions,  "  with  which  the  Germans  fill  their  books  to 
make  them  appear  thicker,  and  which  only  serve  to  waste  time  and 


36  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA 

to  disgust  the  reader."  On  the  other  hand,  he  forbade  the  sur> 
pression  of  some  passages  in  Puffendorf,  where  Russian  barba- 
rism is  denounced.  His  subjects  must  learn  to  blush  for  theii 
rudeness  before  they  could  cure  themselves  of  it.  He  caused 
books  to  be  printed  in  Holland,  in  which  he  attempted  to  teach  the 
Europeans  what  Russia  was,  and  to  appreciate  her  reforms  ; 
whilst  he  published  others  in  Russia  to  make  his  subjects  ac- 
quainted with  Europe.  He  had  recourse  to  Saint  Dmitri,  Feo- 
fane,  and  Feofilakt,  who  by  their  polemical  writings  combated 
superstitions  and  sects  hostile  to  the  State.  Other  writers 
turned  into  ridicule  on  the  stage,  in  what  were  called  operettas, 
all  the  enemies  of  reform,  fanatical  raskolniks,  the  deacon  who 
wept  because  his  son  was  torn  from  him  and  sent  to  school, 
the  employe's  who  fished  in  troubled  waters,  the  partisans  of  the 
ancient  customs,  who  regretted  the  "good  old  times,"  when  Ger- 
man garments  were  unknown,  and  men  wore  long  beards.  Na- 
talia, Peter's  sister,  associated  herself  in  his  work,  by  compos- 
ing Russian  plays.  The  merchant  Passochkof  wrote  his  book 
on  '  Poverty  and  Riches,'  a  sort  of  domostro'i^  where  all  the 
changes  in  manners  since  the  time  of  the  priest  Silvester  can  be 
followed.  Passochkof  dared  to  lift  his  voice  in  favor  of  the 
oppressed  peasant,  to  demand  the  establishment  of  a  tribunal 
before  which  all  Russian  subjects  should  be  equal,  a  regular  or- 
ganization of  justice  and  administration,  which  should  protect 
the  people  against  those  who  rob  in  public  (brigands  and 
thieves)  and  those  who  steal  in  secret  {employes  and  officials). 
He  expected  everything  of  Peter.  "  Unhappily,"  he  says,"  our 
great  monarch  is  almost  alone,  with  ten  others,  in  pulling  up- 
wards, while  millions  of  individuals  pull  downwards.  How 
ihen  can  we  hope  for  a  good  result  ?  " 

Peter  needed  means  of  rapid  publication.  Now  Russian  print- 
ing had  made  little  progress  since  the  16th  century ;  it  had  tried 
specially  to  imitate  the  ancient  Slavonic  manuscripts,  and  its 
method  was  extremely  slow.  Peter  abandoned  the  Slavonic 
alphabet,  no  longer  in  use  except  for  the  Church  books ;  he  was 
the  creator  of  the  Russian  alphabet  properly  so  called,  the  civil 
alphabet.  He  improved  the  machines  and  the  types,  imported 
Dutch  printers,  and  made  printing  an  instrument  of  a  powerful 
and  rapid  propaganda.  In  his  reign  there  were  two  printing 
presses  instead  of  one  at  Moscow,  four  at  St.  Petersburg,  and 
others  at  Tchernigof,  Novgorod  the  Great,  and  Novgorod-Seve- 
roki.  He  founded  the  Gazette  of  St.  Petersburg,  the  first  public 
newspaper  in  Russia. 

A  prince  who  had  studied  medicine  and  surgery  in  the  West, 
who  sometimes  practised  on  his  courtiers,  took  out  a  tooth  or 


mSTOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA,  3; 

lanced  an  abscess,  could  not  neglect  an  art  so  necessary  to  his 
vast  empire,  where  the  mortality  of  infants  was  a  bar  to  the  in- 
crease of  population.  He  entrusted  to  Doctor  Bidloo  the  man- 
agement of  the  hospitals,  and  the  instruction  of  fifty  young  men. 
In  17 18  he  put  forth  an  edict  enjoining  the  collection  of  valuable 
minerals,  of  extraordinary  bones  that  might  be  found  in  the 
fields,  of  antique  inscriptions  on  stone  or  metal,  or  any  mon- 
strosities of  birth  occurring  among  men  or  animals.  "  There 
are  certain  to  be  some  of  these  births,"  says  the  ordinance,  "  but 
ignorant  people  make  mysteries  of  them,  believing  that  the  birth 
of  these  monsters  is  due  to  some  diabolic  influence.  This  is  im- 
possible, for  it  is  God  and  not  the  devil  who  is  the  creator  of  all 
things."  Peter  had  a  taste  for  geography  :  in  17 19  he  fitted  out 
an  expedition  to  Kamscnatka,  to  solve  the  question  asked  by 
Leibnitz,  Is  Asia  united  to  America?  In  1720  he  opened  a 
school  of  cartography.  The  science  of  history  also  has  deep  ob- 
ligations to  him  :  in  1722  he  ordered  a  collection  to  be  made,  in 
the  archives  of  the  monasteries,  of  the  chronicles  and  letters  of 
the  Tzars,  and  had  copies  taken  of  them.  Polykarpof  wrote  a 
History  of  Russia  from  the  16th  century,  for  which  the  Tzar 
gave  him  a  reward  of  200  roubles.  Finally,  in  1724,  Peter  the 
Great,  already  correspondent  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in 
Paris,  founded  that  of  St.  Petersburg,  and  assigned  it  a  revenue 
of  25,000  roubles  on  the  revenues  of  the  customs  of  Narva,  Dor- 
pat,  and  Pernau,  desiring  it  above  all  to  devote  itself  to  trans- 
lations, and  to  teach  its  pupils  practical  sciences  and  languages. 
The  utilitarian  character  of  Peter's  creations  is  found  even  in 
his  Academy.  As  it  was  not  possible  at  that  time  to  count  on 
the  Russians  to  form  a  learned  body,  the  first  academicians  were 
necessarily  foreigners.  Germany  furnished  Wolff  and  Hermann ; 
France,  Bernouilli  and  De  lTsle.  Thus  a  country  which  as  yet 
had  neither  secondary  schools  nor  universities  was  given  an 
academy. 


FOUNDATION  OF  ST.    PETERSBURG  (1703). 

St.  Petersburg  had  just  been  founded.  Its  situation,  as 
Goethe  remarks,  "  recalls  that  of  Amsterdam,  or  of  Venice,  the 
Italian  Amsterdam."  The  wide  and  majestic  Neva,  which  is- 
sues from  the  great  lakes  of  the  north,  there  divides  into  four 
arms,  the  great  and  little  Neva,  and  he  great  and  little  Nevka. 
If  we  add  to  these  her  numerous  affluents,  the  Fontanka,  the 
Okhta,  and  the  two  Tchernaiias,  we  shall  at  present  find  about 
fourteen  watercourses,  a  lake,  eight  canals,  and  nineteen  islands. 


38  &SS TORY  OF  R USSIA. 

It  is  the  aquatic  city  par  excellence,  and  is  exposed  to  terrible  in« 
undations  when  the  prodigious  reservoirs  of  the  Ladoga  and 
Onega  overflow.  No  building  is  ever  made  there  without  first 
strengthening  the  foundation  by  driving  in  innumerable  piles 
of  wood.  When  Peter  the  Great  first  cast  his  eyes  over  the 
country,  after  the  capture  of  Nienschantz.  there  were  only  dark 
forests,  vast  marshes,  dreary  wastes,  where,  according  to  the 
poet,  "  a  Tchoud  fisherman,  a  sorrowful  son  of  his  stepmother 
Nature,  might  occasionally  be  seen  alone  on  the  marshy  shore, 
casting  his  worn-out  line  into  these  nameless  waters."  The 
Finnish  names  then  borne  by  the  islands,  on  which  palaces  were 
afterwards  to  rise,  are  very  significant ;  there  were  the  Isle  of 
Brushwood,  the  Isle  of  Birches,  the  Isle  of  Goats,  the  Isle  of 
Hares,  the  Isle  of  Buffaloes,  Isle  Michael  (a  name  for  the  bear), 
and  the  Wild  Isle.  In  Enicary,  or  "  the  Isle  of  Hares,"  Peter 
built  in  1703  the  new  fortress  (Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul). 
There  he  assembled  regular  soldiers,  Cossacks,  Tatars,  Kal- 
mucks, Ingrian  or  Carelian  natives,  and  peasants  of  the  interior, 
in  all  more  than  40,000  men.  No  tools  were  provided  for  their 
first  labors ;  the  mougik  dug  the  soil  with  sticks  or  his  nails,  and 
carried  the  earth  in  his  caftan.  He  had  to  sleep  in  the  open  air 
among  the  marshes ;  he  often  lacked  food,  and  the  workmen 
died  by  thousands.  Afterwards  the  service  was  made  more 
regular.  Peter  installed  himself  in  the  celebrated  little  wooden 
house  on  the  right  bank,  watching  the  building,  sometimes  pilot- 
ing with  his  own  hand  the  first  Dutch  ships  which  ventured  into 
these  waters,  sometimes  giving  chase  to  Swedish  vessels,  which 
came  to  insult  the  infant  capital.  On  the  Isle  of  Buffaloes,  on 
the  northern  bank  of  the  Neva,  afterwards  the  Vassili-Ostrof, 
numerous  edifices  rose ;  the  southern  bank,  which  became  the 
real  site  of  the  town,  was  at  that  time  neglected.  It  only  con- 
tained the  Admiralty,  to  which  Anne  Ivanovna  added  a  spire  ; 
the  church  of  Saint  Isaac,  then  built  of  wood,  now  of  marble  and 
bronze  ;  that  of  Saint  Alexander  Nevski,  where  Peter  the  Great 
deposited  the  remains  of  the  first  conqueror  of  the  Swedes  ;  the 
house  of  Apraxine,  where  Elizabeth  built  the  Winter  Palace,  the 
already  splendid  hotels  of  the  Millionai'a,  and  where  the  Nevski 
Prospect,  the  most  magnificent  boulevard  in  Europe,  was  to  run. 
The  city  was  built  by  dint  of  edicts.  Finns,  Esthonians,  Tatars, 
Kalmucks,  Swedish  prisoners,  and  merchants  of  Novgorod  were 
transplanted  thither;  and  in  1707  they  were  aided  by  30,000 
day  laborers  from  the  country,  To  attract  all  the  masons  of  the 
empire,  it  was  forbidden  on  pain  of  exile  and  confiscation  to  con- 
struct stone  houses  anywhere  but  at  St.  Petersburg.  Every 
proprietor  owning  five  hundred  peasants  was  obliged  to  raise  a 


MISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  39 

Stone  house  of  two  stories  ;  those  who  were  poor  clubbed  to» 
gether  to  build  one  among  themselves.  Every  boat  that  wanted 
to  enter  had  to  bring  a  certain  number  of  white  stones,  for  stone 
was  lacking  in  these  wastes.  Forage  was  also  wanting,  and  to 
save  forage  Peter  proscribed  the  use  of  carriages,  and  encour- 
aged navigation  by  the  river  and  canals ;  every  inhabitant 
must  have  his  boat,  the  court  could  only  be  approached  by 
water. 

In  1706  Peter  wrote  to  Menchikof  that  all  was  going  on 
wonderfully,  and  that  "  he  seemed  here  in  paradise."  He  deco- 
rated the  church  of  the  fortress  with  carvings  in  ivory,  the  work 
of  his  own  hands ;  hung  it  with  flags  conquered  from  the 
Swedes  ;  consecrated  there  his  little  boat,  "  ancestor  of  the  Rus- 
sian fleet  "  ;  and,  breaking  through  the  tradition  which  insisted 
on  the  princes  being  buried  at  Saint  Michael  at  Moscow,  chose 
out  at  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul  his  own  tomb  and  that  of  his 
successors.  "  Before  the  new  capital,"  says  Pouchkine,  "  Mos- 
cow bowed  her  head,  as  an  imperial  widow  bows  before  a  young 
Tzarina." 

St.  Petersburg  had  another  enemy  besides  the  Swedes — the 
inundations.  The  soil  was  not  yet  raised  by  the  incessant  heap- 
ing up  of  materials ;  the  granite  quays  did  not  yet  confine  the 
formidable  river.  In  1705  nearly  the  whole  town  was  flooded  ; 
in  172 1  all  the  streets  were  navigable,  and  Peter  was  nearly 
drowned  in  the  Nevski  Prospect.  The  enemies  of  reform,  ex- 
asperated by  the  desertion  of  Moscow,  rejoiced  over  these  dis- 
asters, and  predicted  that  this  German  town,  built  by  foreign 
hands  and  soiled  by  the  presence  of  heretic  temples,  would  dis- 
appear beneath  the  floods.  One  day  the  place  of  this  cursed 
city  should  be  sought  in  vain.  Even  at  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Peter,  it  was  the  general  opinion  that  after  his  death  the  court 
and  the  nobility  would  return  to  Moscow,  and  that  the  city  and 
the  fleet  created  by  the  Tzar  would  be  abandoned.  They  were 
mistaken  ;  the  town  that  he  had  flung  like  a  forlorn  hope  on  the 
newly-conquered  soil  remained  the  seat  of  the  empire.  Russia 
is  almost  the  only  State  that  has  built  her  capital  on  her  very 
frontiers.  St.  Petersburg  was  not  only  to  be  the  "  window  " 
open  to  the  West,  but  it  was  to  be  also  the  centre  of  the  Rus- 
sian regeneration.  More  freely,  more  completely  than  at  Mos- 
cow the  Holy,  where  everything  recalled  the  traditions  and 
recollections  of  the  past,  Peter  could  enthrone  at  St.  Petersburg 
the  sentiments  of  toleration  for  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  re- 
ligions, and  sympathy  for  strangers,  who  were  always  detested 
at  Moscow.  He  could  more  easily  persuade  the  nobles  to  adopt 
German  fashions,   to  speak  Western    languages,  to  cultivate 


4° 


H1S1VKY  US  KUZS1A. 


sciences  and  useful  arts,  to  discard  with  the  national  caftan  the 
old  Russian  prejudices.  At  Moscow,  the  City  of  the  Tzars,  for- 
eigners were  confined  in  the  German  slobode  ;  at  St.  Petersburg, 
the  City  of  the  Emperors,  the  Russian  and  the  stranger  would 
meet  and  mingle. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  41 


CHAPTER  III. 

PETER    THE    GREAT  :    LAST    YEARS    (1709-1725). 

War  with  Turkey:  treaty  of  the  Pruth  (1711) — Journey  to  Paris,  (1717) — 
Peace  of  Nystad  (1721) — Conquests  on  the  Caspian — Family  affairs;  Eu- 
doxia;  trial  of  Alexis  (1718);  Catherine. 


WAR  WITH  TURKEY:     TREATY  OF  THE  PRUTH   (1711). 

Charles  XII.,  who  had  allowed  himself  to  be  detained  in 
Poland  during  the  five  years  that  followed  Narva,  was  to  languish 
at  Bender  during  five  other  years  that  followed  Pultowa  (1709- 
13).  Peter  turned  this  new  delay  to  advantage  with  as  much 
energy  as  the  former.  Charles's  Polish  king  Leszczinski  was 
obliged  to  retire  into  Pomerania,  and  Augustus  of  Saxony  re- 
entered Warsaw.  In  the  north  Peter  completed  the  conquest  of 
Livonia  and  Esthonia,  took  a  slice  out  of  Finland,  thus  widening 
the  opening  he  was  trying  to  secure  on  the  Baltic,  and  captured 
Riga,  Diinamunde,  Pernau,  Revel,  Viborg,  and  Kixholm  (17 10). 
He  could  not  conquer  Courland,  a  subject  state  of  Poland,  but 
he  paved  the  way  for  its  union  with  Russia  by  marrying  the 
Duke  to  Anne  Ivanovna,  daughter  of  his  brother  Ivan. 

The  agents  of  Sweden  and  of  Stanislas,  Desaleurs,  ambassa- 
dor of  France,  and  the  Khan  of  the  Tatars,  all  urged  the  Divan 
to  go  to  war.  Achmet  III.  longed  to  recapture  Azof.  Peter 
learned  that  his  ambassador  had  been  confined  in  the  Seven 
Towers,  and  that  Baltagi-Mahomet  was  assembling  an  immense 
army  in  the  plains  of  Adrianople.  The  Tzar  received  this  dec- 
laration of  war  almost  with  joy  ;  the  whole  of  Russia  trembled 
with  gladness  at  the  thought  of  treading  in  the  steps  of  her  an- 
cient princes,  of  marching  to  the  "  Sovereign  City  "  (Tzargrad), 
of  freeing  the  Christians  of  the  East,  of  exterminating  the  old 
enemies  of  the  Slav  race,  and  of  eclipsing  the  glory  of  Ivan  the 
Terrible.  The  Eastern  world  was  shaken  to  its  depths:  Kan- 
temir,  Hospodar  of  Moldavia,  Brancovane,  Hospodar  oi  Walla- 
chia,  Servians,  Montenegrins,  and  Greeks,  all  ardently  desired 
a  liberator.  Carried  away  by  his  enthusiasm,  Peter  committed, 
in  171 1,  the  same  fault  as  Charles  XII.  in  1709.  He  counted 
on  the  doubtful  help  that  he  might  find  in  these  barbarous  and 


42  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  US  SI  A . 

thinly-peopled  countries,  and  did  not  wait  for  the  more  effective 
contingent  of  30,000  men  promised  him  by  Augustus.  He 
crossed  the  Dniester,  found  Moldavia  almost  destitute  of  inhab- 
itants, devastated  by  locusts,  without  a  commissariat,  while  the 
Hospodars  were  undecided  and  powerless  as  Mazeppa.  Kan- 
temir,  deserted  by  most  of  his  boyards,  appeared  nearly  alone  in 
the  Russian  camp.  Brancovane,  Hospodar  of  Wallachia,  de- 
clared for  the  Sultan.  Peter  found  himself  on  the  banks  of  the 
Pruth,  with  38,000  weary  and  starving  soldiers,  surrounded  by 
200,000  Turks  or  Tatars.  The  bravery  displayed  by  this  hand- 
ful of  men  in  a  fight  in  which  7000  Janissaries  perished,  made 
the  Grand  Vizier  pause  and  reflect.  He  heard  that  Renne, 
Peter's  lieutenant,  had  taken  Brailof  and  menaced  the  bridges 
thrown  across  the  Danube. 

Notwithstanding  this  success,  the  greatest  consternation 
reigned  in  the  Russian  camp,  which  was  encumbered  with  wound- 
ed men  and  women.  It  was  Catherine,  the  future  empress,  who 
revived  their  courage.  She  collected  all  the  money  and  jewels 
that  could  be  found  in  the  camp  as  a  present  for  the  Grand  Vizier, 
and  persuaded  the  Tzar  to  send  envoys  to  the  Turkish  entrench- 
ments. These  envoys  had  orders  to  make  any  sacrifice  de- 
manded by  the  Turks  to  restore  Azof,  Livonia,  even  Esthonia 
and  Carelia,  but  to  hold  fast  Ingria,  the  loss  of  which  would  in- 
volve that  of  the  new  capital,  and  rather  sacrifice  even  Pskof. 
Peter  was  ready  to  yield  on  the  Polish  question.  If  the  Turks 
demanded  that  they  should  surrender  at  discretion,  the  Russians 
"  were  prepared  to  force  a  passage,  and  to  fight  to  the  last  man." 
The  Vizier's  demands  were  smaller  than  were  anticipated:  he 
contented  himself  with  the  restitution  of  Azof,  the  destruction  of 
the  fortresses  erected  on  the  Turkish  territory,  and  the  promise 
that  Charles  XII.  should  be  left  in  peace  when  he  returned  to 
his  own  kingdom.  Such  was  the  celebrated  Treaty  of  the  Pruth 
or  Falksen,  which  caused  universal  joy  in  the  Russian  army,  but 
which  always  left  a  trace  of  sadness  in  Peter  the  Great.  To 
have  come  as  deliverer  of  the  Christian  world  and  to  be  forced 
to  capitulate,  to  surrender  Azof,  his  first  conquest,  to  annihilate 
his  fleet  on  the  Black  Sea,  which  had  cost  him  so  many  efforts! 
He  took  his  revenge  on  another  side! 

JOURNEY  TO  PARIS  (1717) — PEACE  OF  NYSTAD  (1721) — CON- 
QUESTS ON   THE  CASPIAN. 

In  17 1 2  and  1713,  while  France  was  passing  through  a  su- 
preme crisis  in  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  the  Russians, 
with  their  Danish  and  Saxon  allies,  were  expelling  the  Swedes 


BIS  TORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


43 


from  Pomerania.  In  May  1713a  fleet  of  200  Russian  ships, 
commanded  by  Apraxine,  with  Peter  for  vice-admiral,  left  the 
Neva,  took  Helsingfors,  capital  of  Finland,  and  Abo,  the  library 
of  which  was  sent  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  disembarked  troops 
who  defeated  the  Swedes  at  Tammersfors.  The  following  year 
the  Russians  again  defeated  the  enemy's  fleet  at  Hankiil,  and 
occupied  the  isles  of  Aland.  Even  Stockholm  was  threatened,  the 
Russians  not  being  more  than  fifteen  miles  from  the  Swedish 
capital.  The  capture  of  Nyslott  completed  the  conquest  of 
Finland,  and  Charles  XII.,  who  hastened  from  Bender,  could 
save  neither  Stralsund  nor  Wismar.  After  long  hesitation,  the 
King  of  Prussia  had  joined  his  enemies,  and  the  last  Swedish 
fortresses  in  Pomerania  had  fallen.  The  Elector  of  Hanover, 
King  of  England,  also  turned  against  him,  and  took  Werden,  a 
possession  of  Charles  on  the  Weser.  With  Sweden  deprived  of 
her  provinces  in  the  German  empire,  the  results  of  the  Treaty  of 
Westphalia  were  imperilled.  The  war  in  the  North,  formerly 
localized  in  the  Eastern  Baltic,  became  a  European  war,  and 
threatened  the  equilibrium  of  the  Continent.  Russian  armies, 
for  the  first  time,  poured  into  Northern  Germany.  Peter,  who 
had  married  one  of  his  nieces  to  the  Duke  of  Courland,  found  a 
husband  for  the  other,  Catherine  Ivanovna,  in  the  Duke  of 
Mecklenburg,  and  lent  his  support  to  help  this  prince  to  reduce 
his  nobility  to  obedience.  North  Germany  seemed  ready  to  fall 
under  the  Muscovite  yoke,  as  in  the  seventeenth  century  she  had 
passed  under  the  Swedish  rule.  The  allies  of  the  Tzar  began 
to  fear  his  ambition.  The  Mecklenburg  nobles  took  their  re- 
venge by  everywhere  stirring  up  enemies  against  him.  Berns- 
dorff  induced  George  of  Hanover  to  break  off  his  alliance  with 
the  Tzar,  and  two  other  Mecklenburgers  obtained  the  promise 
of  the  King  of  Denmark  to  close  the  gates  of  Wismar  on  Peter. 
Peter  felt  that  he  also  must  find  support,  and,  as  the  question 
had  now  become  European,  must  seek  European  allies.  It  was 
at  this  juncture  that  Baron  Gortz  undertook  to  reconcile  him 
with  Charles  XII.,  whose  courage  was  to  be  used  to  overthrow 
the  King  of  England,  and  to  replace  the  Stuart  dynasty  on  the 
throne.  Peter  wished,  moreover,  to  enter  into  relations  with 
France.  In  17 11  he  had  sent  Gregory  Volkof  to  Louis  XIV., 
to  ask  his  mediation,  but  the  Grand  Monarque  thought  himself 
too  deeply  involved  with  Sweden,  though  Charles  had  but 
scantily  fulfilled  his  own  obligations.  After  the  death  of  Louis 
XIV.  the  Duke  of  Orleans  became  Regent.  Peter  decided  to 
visit  Versailles,  and  Zotof,  his  agent  at  the  Court  of  France,  as- 
sured him  of  the  good-will  of  the  Duke.  The  Tzar  had  there- 
fore grounds  to  hope  for  the  conclusion  of  a  close  alliance  with 


♦4 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


a  powerful  kingdom,  and  perhaps  to  look  forward  to  the  marri 
age  of  his  daughter  Elizabeth  with  the  young  King  Louis  XV. 
The  circumstances  under  which  Peter  made  his  second  journey 
to  the  West  were  all  unlike  those  of  his  former  tour.  He  was 
no  longer  the  young  prince,  only  half  civilized,  master  of  a 
nearly  unknown  State  in  Eastern  Europe,  but  the  conqueror  of 
Pultowa  and  of  Hankiil,  the  master  of  the  Baltic  and  Northern 
Germany,  the  reformer  of  a  numerous  people,  the  founder  of  a 
new  capital  and  a  new  empire,  the  head  of  a  great  European 
nation. 

"  This  monarch,"  says  Saint  Simon,  "  astonished  Paris  by  his 
extreme  curiosity  on  all  points  of  government,  commerce,  edu- 
cation, and  police, — a  curiosity  which  disdained  nothing,  but 
probed  everything.  All  his  conduct  displayed  the  breadth  of 
his  views  and  the  acuteness  of  his  reasoning.  His  manner  was 
at  once  the  most  dignified,  the  proudest,  the  most  sustained,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  least  embarrassing.  He  had  the  sort  of 
familiarity  that  springs  from  boundless  liberty,  but  he  was  not 
exempt  from  a  trace  of  the  old-world  rudeness  of  his  country, 
which  made  him  abrupt  and  even  uncourteous,  and  with  nothing 
certain  about  his  wishes  but  the  fact  that  not  one  of  them  was  to 
be  contradicted.  His  habits  at  meals  were  rough  ;  the  revelry 
that  followed  was  even  more  barbaric.  He  seldom  tried  to  hide 
in  his  establishment  the  freedom  and  the  self-will  of  a  king. 
The  wish  to  be  at  his  ease,  dislike  of  being  made  a  spectacle, 
the  habit  of  liberty  for  which  he  was  accountable  to  none,  made 
him  prefer  hired  carriages,  even  fiacres.  He  would  jump  into 
the  first  empty  carriage  he  met  with,  without  caring  to  whom  it 
belonged,  and  have  himself  driven  about  the  town  or  beyond 
the  walls.  He  was  a  very  tall  man,  well  made,  though  rather 
thin,  his  face  somewhat  round,  with  a  wide  forehead,  beautiful 
eyebrows,  a  short  nose,  thick  at  the  end  ;  his  lips  were  rather 
thick,  his  skin  brown  and  ruddy.  He  had  splendid  eyes,  large, 
black,  piercing,  and  well  opened  ;  his  expression  was  dignified 
and  gracious  when  he  liked,  but  often  wild  and  stern,  and  his 
eyes,  and  indeed  his  whole  face,  were  distorted  by  an  occasional 
twitch  that  was  very  unpleasant.  It  lasted  only  a  moment,  and 
gave  him  a  wandering  and  terrible  look,  then  he  was  himself 
again.  His  air  expressed  intellect,  thoughtfulness,  and  great- 
ness, and  had  a  certain  grace  about  it.  He  wore  a  linen  collar, 
a  round  peruke,  brown  and  unpowdered,  which  did  not  reach  his 
shoulders ;  a  brown  juste-au-corps,  with  gold  buttons,  a  vest, 
breeches,  stockings,  and  neither  gloves  nor  cuffs ;  the  star  of 
his  order  on  his  coat,  and  the  ribbon  underneath  it ;  his  coat 
was  often  unbuttoned,  his  hat  lay  on  the  table  and  never  on  hi* 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  45 

head,  even  out  of  doors.  In  this  simplicity,  however  shabby 
might  be  his  carriage  or  scanty  his  suit,  his  natural  air  of  great- 
ness could  not  be  mistaken." 

Peter  visited  both  the  Regent  and  the  King,  took  Louis  XV. 
in  his  arms,  to  the  great  consternation  of  the  courtiers,  and 
wrote  to  his  wife  Catherine  :  "  The  little  king  is  scarcely  taller 
than  our  dwarf  Loaki ;  his  face  and  figure  are  distinguished 
and  he  is  tolerably  intelligent  for  his  age."  The  Tzar, 
despised  all  that  was  merely  fashionable  and  unproductive 
luxury,  and  occupied  himself  entirely  with  government,  com- 
merce, science,  and  military  affairs.  He  neglected  to  call  on 
the  princes  of  the  blood,  but  entered  the  shops  of  coach-builders 
and  goldsmiths.  He  tasted  the  soup  of  the  Invalides,  drank 
their  health,  struck  them  on  the  shoulder,  and  treated  them  as 
comrades.  The  Gobelins,  the  Observatory,  the  King's  garden, 
the  collection  of  plans  in  relief  of  fortified  places,  the  works  of 
the  Pont  Tournant,  and  the  machine  at  Marly,  captivated  his 
attention.  A  medal  was  struck  for  him  at  the  Mint  with  his 
own  effigy  and  the  motto  "  Vires  acquirit  eundo"  He  was  pres- 
ent at  a  meeting  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  which  elected 
him  a  member,  and  corrected  with  his  own  hand  a  map  of  his 
dominions  which  was  shown  to  him.  He  embraced  a  bust  of 
Richelieu  at  the  Sorbonne,  and  wished  to  see  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  as  a  relic  of  the  great  reign. 

Things  did  not  run  quite  as  smoothly  as  he  wished  in  the 
matter  which  had  chiefly  brought  him  to  France.  He  sought  an 
ally  against  George  I. ;  but  the  English  alliance  was  then  the 
corner-stone  of  the  French  foreign  policy.  "  The  Tzar," 
says  Saint  Simon,  "had  an  intense  desire  to  unite  him- 
self with  France.  Nothing  could  have  been  better  for  our 
commerce,  or  for  our  position  with  regard  to  Germany,  the 
North,  and  the  whole  of  Europe.  Peter  held  England  in 
check  by  her  fears  for  her  commerce,  and  King  George 
by  his  fears  for  his  German  territories.  He  made  Holland  treat 
him  with  respect,  and  kept  the  Emperor  in  great  order.  .  .  . 
No  one  can  deny  that  he  made  a  grand  figure  both  in  Europe 
and  Asia,  and  that  France  would  have  gained  enormously  by  an 
alliance  with  him.  .  .  .  We  repented  long  ago  of  our  fatal  in- 
fatuation for  England,  and  our  silly  contempt  for  Russia." 

Notwithstanding  the  mad  confidence  of  the  Regent  in  the 
Abbd  Dubois,  the  plenipotentiaries  of  Peter  the  Great  concluded 
at  Amsterdam,  after  the  return  of  the  Tzar  to  his  dominions,  a 
treaty  of  commerce  with  France  (1717).  The  two  Powers,  now 
joined  by  Prussia,  declared  that  they  specially  united  to  guar- 
antee the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  and  the  eventual  peace  of  the 


46  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

North ;  they  laid  down  the  basis  of  a  defensive  alliance,  the 
ways  and  means  hereafter  to  be  considered.  Peter  afterwards 
found  himself  slightly  compromised  in  the  plans  of  Gortz  and 
Alberoni,  which  caused  a  coolness  between  them.  A  regular 
communication  between  the  two  countries  was,  however,  inaugu- 
rated. First  Kourakine  and  then  Dolgorouki  were  nominated 
ambassadors  at  Paris,  while  Campredon  represented  France  at 
St  Petersburg.  More  than  once  negotiations  were  set  on  foot 
for  Elizabeth's  marriage,  sometimes  with  Louis  XV.,  sometimes 
with  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  or  some  other  French  prince.  France 
lent  her  good  offices  to  Russia,  in  the  matter  of  peace  with 
Sweden. 

Gortz  was  on  the  point  of  reconciling  Peter  with  Charles, 
and  a  congress  had  already  opened  in  the  isles  of  Aland,  be- 
tween Bruce  and  Ostermann  on  the  one  hand  and  Gortz  and 
Gyllenburg  on  the  other,  when  the  King  of  Sweden  was  killed 
in  Norway  (1718).  An  aristocratic  reaction  broke  out  at  Stock- 
holm :  Charles  Frederic  of  Holstein-Gottorp,  nephew  of  Charles 
XII.,  was  excluded  from  the  throne,  and  the  crown  was  offered  to 
the  youngest  sister  of  the  late  king,  Ulrica-Eleonora,  wife  of  Fred- 
eric of  Hesse-Cassel,  who  was  regarded  as  more  pliable.  An 
aristocratic  constitution  was  established  which  deprived  the  crown 
of  nearly  all  its  prerogatives,  and  left  Sweden  a  prey  to  fifty-three 
years  of  anarchy  and  insignificance.  Authority  passed  into  the 
hands  of  a  diet  composed  of  the  deputies  of  the  four  orders 
(nobles,  clergy,  citizens,  and  peasants),  but  in  which  the 
nobles  had  a  decided  majority.  Gortz  was  recalled  to  Stock- 
holm and  condemned  to  death,  and  his  policy  was  abandoned. 
The  Diet  revived,  on  the  contrary,  the  alliance  with  Hanover, 
and  resolved  to  continue  the  war  with  Russia,  with  the  proba- 
ble support  of  the  English  fleet.  Peter  accepted  the  challenge, 
and  waged  with  his  enemies  a  war  of  extermination.  In  17 19 
his  army  landed  on  the  shores  of  Sweden  itself,  and  burned  two 
towns  and  a  hundred  and  twenty-nine  villages.  Apraxine  ex- 
tended his  ravages  to  within  seven  miles  of  Stockholm.  In  1720 
the  devastation  recommenced,  in  the  very  presence  of  the  Eng- 
lish fleet,  which  did  not  dare  to  pursue  the  Russians  into  the 
recesses  of  the  Swedish  coast.  In  172 1  the  Diet  decided  to 
treat.  Peter  kept  Livonia,  Esthonia,  Ingria,  part  of  Finland, 
and  Carelia.  Such  was  the  Peace  of  Nystad,  which  avenged 
Ivan  the  Terrible  and  Alexis  Mikha'ilovitch. 

When  the  Tzar  felt  the  weight  of  this  twenty-two  years'  war 
lifted  from  his  shoulders,  he  returned  to  St.  Petersburg  to  an- 
nounce the  happy  news  of  peace  to  his  people,  and,  mounted  on 
a  platform,  he  drank  to  the  health  of  his  subjects.  A  whole  week 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  47 

was  given  up  to  fetes  and  masquerades.  Peter,  in  his  joy, 
burned  12,000  roubles'  worth  of  powder,  put  on  a  fancy  dress, 
danced  on  the  table,  and  "  sang  songs."  The  Senate  united  with 
the  Holy  Synod  in  a  great  council,  decreed  to  the  Tzar  the  title  of 
11  Great,  Father  of  his  Country,  and  of  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias." 
It  was  thus  that  the  son  of  Alexis  became,  according  to  the 
popular  songs,  "  the  first  emperor  of  the  country."  Feofane  Pro- 
kopovitch  preached  one  of  his  most  beautiful  sermons  on  this 
occasion. 

Peter's  great  desire  was  to  make  Russia  the  centre  of  com- 
munication between  Asia  and  Europe.  He  had  conquered  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic,  but  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  find  an 
equivalent  for  Azof  and  throw  open  at  least  one  of  the  seas  of 
the  East.  Persia,  mistress  of  the  Caspian,  was  then  a  prey  to 
anarchy  under  a  weak  prince,  who  was  attacked  by  rebels  on  all 
sides.  Russian  merchants  had  been  robbed,  and  Peter  took  ad- 
vantage of  this  pretext  for  war  to  seize  Derbend,  and  himself  com- 
manded the  expedition  which  descended  the  Volga,  from  Nijni 
to  Astrakhan  (1722).  The  operations  still  continued  after  his 
departure  :  the  Russians  took  Bakou,  interfered  in  the  internal 
affairs  of  Persia,  promised  help  to  the  Shah  against  his  enemies, 
and  occupied  Daghestan,  Ghilan,  and  Mazanderan,  with  Recht 
and  Asterabad. 


FAMILY  AFFAIRS  :  EUDOXIA  ;  TRIAL  OF  ALEXIS  (1718)  ;  CATHERINE. 

The  last  years  of  Peter  the  Great  were  saddened  by  terrible 
domestic  tragedies.  He  had  been  married,  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen, to  Eudoxia  Lapoukhine,  the  daughter  of  a  very  conserva- 
tive family.  As  she  shared  the  views  of  her  relations,  Peter  soon 
began  to  hate  her.  After  the  capture  of  Azof  he  signified  that 
he  did  not  wish  on  his  return  to  find  her  at  the  palace,  and 
she  was  obliged  to  retire  to>  the  Pokrovski  monastery  at  Souz- 
dal.  Soon  afterwards  he  obtained  a  divorce,  in  order  to  marry 
Catherine.  Banished  and  divorced,  Eudoxia  still  retained  her 
power.  In  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  of  a  large  part  of  the 
clergy,  she  remained  the  Tzar's  only  lawful  wife  ;  she  was  the 
mother  of  the  Tzarevitch  Alexis,  over  whose  mind  and  character 
she  had,  during  the  frequent  absences  of  the  Tzar,  exercised  the 
most  fatal  influence.  After  the  dismissal  of  Eudoxia,  Peter  paid 
more  attention  to  the  education  of  his  heir,  and  gave  him  foreign 
masters.  It  was  too  late  :  Alexis  was  already  a  young  man. 
Narrow-minded,  indolent,  lazy,  feeble,  and  obstinate,  the  son  of 
the  reformer  was  a  pure  Lapoukhine.     Whilst  Peter  was  expos* 

Vol.  2  R    16 


48  MS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA. 

ing  himself  on  battle-fields  in  Finland,  Lithuania,  and  the  Ukraiu^ 
Alexis  was  surrounded  by  monks,  devotees,  and  visionaries  ;  the 
way  to  his  heart  lay  in  the  abuse  of  the  reforms  and  the  new 
laws.  Against  his  own  wishes  he  was  forced  to  marry  Charlotte 
of  Brunswick  at  Torgau,  but  consoled  himself  with  the  idea  that 
he  would  one  day  have  the  heads  of  the  authors  of  the  marriage. 
When  his  confidant  tried  to  make  him  fear  that  he  would  only 
alienate  the  nobles,  "  I  spit  upon  them,"  he  replied  ;  "  the 
people  are  on  my  side.  When  my  father  dies,  I  shall  have  onty 
to  say  a  word  in  the  ear  of  the  archbishops,  who  will  tell  their 
priests,  who  will  whisper  it  to  their  parishioners,  and  I  shall  be 
made  Tzar,  even  were  it  in  spite  of  myself."  During  his  travels 
in  Germany  he  would  learn  nothing,  he  wounded  his  hand  that 
he  might  not  be  obliged  to  draw,  and  alleged  his  feeble  health 
as  an  excuse  for  living  in  idleness.  Peter  tried  to  bring  him  to 
reason.  "  Disquiet  for  the  future  destroys  the  joy  caused  by  my 
present  successes.  I  see  that  you  despise  all  that  can  make  you 
worthy  to  reign  after  me.  What  you  term  incapacity  I  call  re- 
bellion, for  you  cannot  excuse  yourself  on  the  ground  of  the 
feebleness  of  your  mind  and  the  weakness  of  your  health.  We 
have  only  struggled  from  obscurity  through  the  toils  of  war, 
which  has  taught  other  nations  to  know  and  respect  us,  and  yet 
you  will  not  even  hear  of  military  exercises.  If  you  do  not  alter 
your  conduct,  know  that  I  shall  deprive  you  of  my  succession.  I 
have  not  spared,  and  I  shall  not  spare,  my  own  life  for  my  country 
and  my  people  :  do  you  think  that  I  shall  spare  yours  ?  I  would 
rather  have  a  stranger,  who  was  worthy,  for  my  heir,  than  a  good- 
for-nothing  member  of  my  own  family."  Alexis  still  persisted  that 
he  had  neither  health  nor  memory,  and  would  prefer  becoming 
a  monk.  His  confidant,  Kikine,  advised  him  to  dissemble, 
and  to  allow  himself  to  be  shut  up  in  a  convent  :  "  You  can 
come  out  of  it,"  he  said  ;  "  they  do  not  nail  the  khlobouque  on 
your  head."  During  his  father's  travels  in  the  West,  the  Tzard- 
vitch  fled  to  Germany  with  his  mistress,  the  serf  Euphrosyne. 
He  went  to  the  court  of  Vienna,  which  promised  to  provide  him 
with  a  secret  and  secure  asylum.  It  was  in  this  manner  that  he 
was  successively  confined  in  the  castle  of  Ehrenberg,  in  the 
Tyrol,  and  of  Sant'  Elmo,  near  Naples.  His  father's  agents, 
who  had  instantly  started  in  pursuit,  ended  by  tracing  him,  and 
Tolstoi  obtained  an  interview  with  Alexis,  who  was  assured  of  par- 
don, and  persuaded  to  return  to  Moscow.  The  Tzar  immediately 
assembled  the  three  orders  at  the  Kremlin,  arraigned  the  prisoner 
before  it,  and  obliged  him  to  sign  a  formal  renunciation  of  the 
crown.  Alexis  had  also  to  denounce  his  accomplices,  and  in  the 
course   of  the    interrogation  some  terrible    disclosures    were 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  4g 

made  to  Peter.  His  son  was  the  centre  of  a  permanent  con- 
spiracy against  his  reforms,  the  hope  of  all  who  after  his  death 
would  seek  to  destroy  his  work.  If  Alexis  had  consented 
to  enter  the  cloister,  it  was  in  the  expectation  of  one  day 
leaving  it,  his  renunciation  of  the  throne  could  not  have 
been  sincere  :  he  did  not  belong  to  himself,  he  belonged 
to  the  enemies  of  his  father,  who  would  understand  how  to 
absolve  him  from  his  vows.  Peter  learnt,  among  other  things, 
that  Alexis  had  solicited  at  Vienna  the  armed  protection  of 
the  Emperor,  that  he  had  intrigued  with  Sweden,  and  that,  on 
the  occasion  of  a  sedition  in  the  Russian  army  of  Mecklenburg, 
he  entered  into  relations  with  the  leaders,  and  only  awaited  a 
letter  to  hasten  to  the  camp.  He  had  longed  for  the  death  of 
his  father,  and  his  confessor,  Varlaam,  had  said,  "  We  all  desire 
it."  The  threads  of  the  plot  between  the  palace  of  the  Tzare*- 
vitch  and  the  convent  of  the  divorced  Tzarina  were  soon  grasped. 
Eudoxia  was  treated,  not  as  a  nun,  but  as  a  Tzarina ;  she  had 
her  court  of  malcontents,  wore  a  secular  costume,  was  mentioned 
in  the  prayers  like  a  sovereign.  Dositheus,  Archbishop  of  Ros- 
tof,  had  predicted  to  her  the  approaching  death  of  the  Tzar,  and 
to  hasten  it  the  Archimandrite  Peter  made  hundreds  of  prostra- 
tions before  the  holy  images.  A  certain  Glebof,  who  had  es- 
tablished a  correspondence  in  cypher  with  the  Tzarina,  avowed 
he  was  her  lover,  and  that  he  was  to  marry  her  after  the  death 
of  the  Tzar.  Her  relations,  her  brother  Abraham  Lapoukhine, 
among  others,  were  concerned  in  these  intrigues  and  hopes. 
Peter  crushed  with  cruel  penalties  this  nest  of  conspirators. 
Glebof  was  impaled,  Dositheus  broken  on  the  wheel,  Lapoukhine 
tortured  and  beheaded,  thirty  people  put  to  death  or  exiled, 
Eudoxia  whipped  and  confined  in  New  Ladoga.  The  affair  of 
the  TzareVitch  had  changed  its  character  after  all  these  revela- 
tions ;  there  could  now  be  no  question  of  clemency.  Peter  had 
no  longer  to  deal  with  a  lazy  and  disobedient  son,  but  with  a 
traitor  who  had  become  the  chief  of  his  enemies  within  and  the 
ally  of  those  without,  and  who  had  sought  foreign  aid.  Peter  had 
to  choose  between  his  reforms,  for  Alexis  had  openly  promised 
to  abandon  St.  Petersburg,  the  navy,  the  Swedish  conquests, 
and  to  return  to  Moscow.  There  was  no  hope  now  of  putting 
him  in  a  condition  where  he  would  be  harmless  after  the  death 
of  his  father.  Alexis  knew  they  could  not  "  nail  the  khloboaque 
on  his  head,"  and  the  seclusion  of  a  convent  had  not  prevented 
Eudoxia  from  indulging  in  secular  hopes.  Henceforth  Alexis 
only  found  in  his  father  an  inexorable  judge.  Twice  he  suffered 
the  knout;  and  a  tribunal  composed  of  the  highest  officials  of 
the  State  condemned  him  to  death.     The  difficulty  seemed  to 


5° 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


lie  in  the  execution  of  the  sentence,  but  two  days  after  the  sen- 
tence was  passed  it  became  known  that  he  had  ceased  to  live. 
Divers  rumors  as  to  the  manner  of  his  death  were  circulated  in 
the  Memoirs  of  the  time  :  some  say  it  was  caused  by  a  sudden 
apoplexy,  or  a  disarrangement  of  his  entrails,  arising  from  deep 
emotion ;  some  that  he  was  beheaded  with  an  axe,  struck  down 
with  a  club,  suffocated  under  cushions,  strangled  with  his  cravat ; 
some  reports  put  him  to  death  by  poison,  others  that  his  veins 
were  opened.  All  that  is  certain  is,  that  on  the  morning  of  the 
fatal  day  the  Tzar  compelled  his  son  to  appear  before  a  com- 
mission of  nine  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  State.  About  what 
then  took  place  these  nine  men  were  forever  silent ;  but  it 
seems  now  to  have  been  ascertained  that  in  order  to  wring  fresh 
confessions  from  the  Tzarevitch  the  knout  was  again  applied  to 
him,  and  that  he  died  from  the  consequences  of  the  torture. 

Peter  had  already  another  family.  In  1702,  at  the  sack  of 
Marienburg,  the  Russians  had  made  prisoner  a  young  girl,  about 
whose  condition,  origin,  and  nationality  original  authorities  dif- 
fer. It  seems  most  probable  that  she  was  a  Livonian,  one  of  a 
family  of  serfs  called  Skavronski  ;  that  she  was  a  servant  at  the 
house  of  the  pastor  Gluck,  and  that  she  had  been  betrothed  to  a 
Swedish  dragoon.  It  was  thus  that  in  obscurity  and  dishonor 
her  imperial  destiny  began.  The  captive  passed  from  hand  to 
hand,  and  was  successively  mistress  of  Cheremetief  and  of  Men- 
chikof,  who  ceded  her  to  Peter  the  Great.  Though  ignorant 
and  completely  illiterate,  she  fascinated  the  Tzar  by  the  vivacity 
of  her  mind,  the  correctness  of  her  judgment,  and  something 
free  and  adventurous  about  her  which  contrasted  with  the  man- 
ners of  the  Russian  terem,  and  marked  out  this  Lutheran  slave 
as  the  future  Empress  of  Russia.  Their  marriage,  secretly  con- 
tracted, received  a  final  consecration  under  the  fire  of  the  Otto- 
man batteries  on  the  Pruth.  In  memory  of  the  services  then 
rendered  by  Catharine  to  the  Tzar  and  to  the  country,  Peter 
founded  the  Order  "  for  love  and  fidelity,"  and  solemnly  married 
her  in  17 12.  He  did  not,  however,  dare  to  take  her  with  him 
in  his  journey  to  France.  The  contrast  would  have  been  too 
obvious  at  Versailles  between  the  ladies  of  the  proud  French 
nobility  and  this  foreign  slave ;  between  the  cultivated  wit  of  a 
Se'vigne'  and  a  Deffand  and  this  empress  who  could  not  sign  her 
name  ;  between  the  refinements  of  the  French  fine  ladies  and 
the  awkward  wench  described  by  the  Margravine  of  Baireuth. 

"  The  Tzarina,"  says  the  German  princess,  "  was  small  and 
clumsily  made,  very  much  tanned,  and  without  either  grace  or 
an  air  of  distinction.  You  had  only  to  see  her  to  know  that  she 
was  low-born.     From  her  usual  costume  you  would  have  taken 


.  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  5 1 

her  for  a  German  comedian.  Her  dress  had  been  bought  at  a 
second-hand  shop ;  it  was  very  old-fashioned,  and  covered  with 
silver  and  dirt.  She  had  a  dozen  orders,  and  as  many  portraits 
of  saints  or  reliquaries,  fastened  all  down  her  dress,  in  such  a 
way  that  when  she  walked  you  would  have  thought  by  the  jing- 
ling that  a  mule  was  passing."  In  1721  Peter  promulgated  the 
celebrated  edict  which  recognized  the  right  of  the  Russian  sov- 
ereign to  nominate  his  successor,  thus  derogating  from  the  he- 
reditary principle  which  seems  the  very  essence  of  the  monar- 
chy. Peter  invoked  the  precedent  of  Ivan  the  Great,  and  the 
"  Absalomian  revolt "  of  Alexis.  To  justify  this  measure  of  the 
Tzar,  Feofane  Prokopovitch  wrote  his  book,  called  'Justice 
founded  on  the  Will  of  the  Sovereign,  (Pravda  voli  monarchei). 
By  Catharine  Peter  had  had  two  sons,  Peter  and  Paul,  who  died 
when  children,  and  two  daughters — Anne,  married  to  the  Duke 
of  Holstein,  and  Elizabeth,  who  became  Tzarina.  Besides  these, 
Alexis  had  left  a  son  by  Charlotte  of  Brunswick,  afterwards 
Peter  II.,  who  was  then  named  last  in  the  public  prayers.  In 
1723  Peter  the  Great  published  a  manifesto,  recalling  the  ser- 
vices Catharine  had  rendered,  and  solemnly  crowned  her  Em- 
press. This  was  the  culmination  of  her  strange  destiny.  Soon 
it  began  to  change  ;  the  Emperor  thought  he  had  discovered 
proofs  of  her  infidelity,  and  spoke  of  repudiating  her.  Anyhow, 
he  had  not  yet  exercised  the  right  of  naming  his  successor, 
claimed  two  years  before.  His  health  was  broken  by  his  toils 
and  his  excesses,  and  he  no  longer  took  any  care  of  himself. 
One  day  he  flung  himself  into  icy  water  up  to  his  waist  to  save 
a  boat  in  distress,  felt  an  attack  of  illness  coming  on,  caught  cold 
again  in  the  "benediction  of  the  waters,"  and  died  without  being 
able  either  to  speak  or  write  his  last  wishes.  He  was  then  only 
fifty-three  years  of  age. 

He  was  above  all  a  man  of  war,  marked  as  such  by  his  tall 
figure,  his  robust  limbs,  his  nervous  and  sanguine  temperament, 
and  his  arm  as  strong  as  a  blacksmith's.  His  life  was  a  strug- 
gle with  the  forces  of  the  past,  with  the  ignorant  nobles,  with  the 
fanatical  clergy,  with  the  people  who  plumed  themselves  on 
their  barbarism  and  national  isolation,  with  the  Cossack  and 
Strelitz,  representatives  of  the  old  army,  and  with  the  raskol, 
representative  of  the  old  superstition.  This  combat,  which  shook 
Russia  and  the  world,  he  found  repeated  in  his  own  family.  It 
began  with  his  sister  Sophie,  and  continued  with  his  wife  Eu- 
doxia  and  his  son  Alexis.  Entirely  given  up  to  his  terrible  task, 
Peter  all  his  life  disdained  pomp,  luxury,  and  every  kind  of  dis< 
play.  The  first  Emperor  of  Russia,  the  founder  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, forgot  to  build  himself  a  palace  ;  his  favorite  residence  of 


5  2  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Peterhof  is  like  the  villa  of  a  well-to-do  citizen  of  Saardam.  His 
table  was  frugal,  and  what  he  sought  in  his  orgies  of  beer  or 
brandy  was  a  stimulant  or  a  distraction.  The  people  have  pre- 
served his  memory  in  their  songs  or  popular  traditions  ;  they 
flight  in  repeating,  "  he  worked  harder  than  a  bourlak"  This 
oiell-filled  life  was  like  a  fever  of  perpetual  activity,  in  which 
Peter,  with  Russia,  panted  and  exhausted  himself.  Is  it  won- 
derful that  he  roughly  hurled  all  obstacles  out  of  his  way  ?  His 
movement  was  prompt  and  his  hand  heavy ;  the  staff  of  Ivan 
IV.  seems  to  have  passed  into  his  grasp.  We  have  seen  him 
strike  with  his  cane  the  greatest  lords,  Prince  Menchikof  among 
the  number.  He  bent  to  his  will  men,  things,  nature,  and  time  ; 
he  realized  his  end  by  despotic  blows.  For  a  long  while  yet 
Russian  and  foreign  historians  will  either  hesitate  to  pass  a 
final  judgment  on  him,  or  will  advance  contradictory  opinions. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  53 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  WIDOW  AND  GRANDSON  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT  :    CATHERINE  I, 
(1725-1727)    AND    PETER    II.    (1727-1730). 

The   work  of  Peter  the  Great  continued  by  Catherine — Menchikof  and  the 
Dolgorouki — Maurice  de  Saxe  in  Courland. 


THE  WORK  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT  CONTINUED  BY  CATHERINE. 

At  the  death  of  Peter  the  Great  the  nation  was  divided  into 
two  parties  :  one  supported  his  grandson,  Peter  Alexievitch  (then 
twelve  years  old),  the  other  wished  to  proclaim  Catherine  the 
Livonian.  The  Galitsynes,  the  Dolgoroukis,  Repnine,  and  all 
Old  Russia  desired  to  place  the  crown  on  the  head  of  Peter 
Alexievitch  ;  but  those  who  owed  their  elevation  to  Peter  I., 
those  who  were  involved  in  the  trial  of  his  son, — Prince  Men- 
chikof, Admiral  Apraxine,  Boutourline  (Colonel  of  the  Guard), 
the  Chancellor  Golovkine,  Jagoujinski  (Procurator-General  of  the 
Senate),  the  German  Ostermann,  Tolstoi'  (who  had  induced 
Alexis  to  quit  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Elmo),  the  Bishop  Feofane 
(author  of  the  Pravda  voli  monarchei),  and  the  members  of  the 
tribunal  which  had  condemned  the  Tzarevitch — all  felt  their 
only  hope  of  salvation  lay  in  Catherine.  They  were  the  more 
capable  and  the  more  enlightened  ;  they  held  the  power  actually 
in  their  hands — directed  the  administration  and  commanded  the 
army.  Their  adversaries  felt  that  they  must  be  content  with  a 
compromise.  Dmitri  Galitsyne  proposed  to  proclaim  Peter  II., 
but  only  under  the  guardianship  of  the  Empress-widow.  Tolstoi' 
opposed  this,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  the  most  certain  means 
of  arming  one  party  against  the  other,  of  giving  birth  to  troubles, 
of  offering  hostile  factions  a  pretext  for  raising  the  people  against 
the  regent.  He  proved  that,  in  the  absence  of  all  testamentary 
disposition,  Catherine  had  the  best  right  to  succeed  Peter  I. 
She  had  been  solemnly  crowned,  and  had  received  the  oaths  of 
her  subjects  ;  she  was  initiated  into  all  the  State  secrets,  and  had 
learned  from  her  husband  how  to  govern.  The  officers  and  re- 
giments of  Guards  loudly  declared  in  favor  of  the  heroine  of  the 


5  4  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA . 

Pruth.  It  was  at  last  decided  that  she  should  reign  alone,  and 
absolute,  by  the  same  title  as  the  dead  Tzar.  No  doubt  it  was 
a  novelty  in  Russia — a  novelty  even  greater  than  the  regency  of 
Sophia.  Catherine  w  ;  not  only  a  woman,  but  a  foreigner,  a 
captive,  a  second  wife,  hardly  considered  as  a  wife  at  all.  There 
was  more  than  one  rotest  against  a  decision  which  excluded 
the  grandson  of  Peter  the  Great  from  the  throne,  and  many 
raskolniks  suffered  torture  rather  than  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  a  woman. 

Menchikof,  one  of  the  early  lovers  of  Catherine,  found  himself 
all-powerful.  He  was  able  tc  stop  the  trial  for  maladministra- 
tion commenced  against  him  by  the  late  Tzar,  and  obtained  the 
gift  of  Batourine,  the  ancient  capital  of  Mazeppa,  which  was 
equivalent  to  the  whole  principality  of  the  Ukraine.  His  des- 
potic temper  and  his  bad  character  made  him  hated  by  his  com- 
panions. Discord  broke  out  among  the  "  eaglets  "  of  Peter  the 
Great.  Jagoujinski  went  to  weep  publicly  over  the  tomb  of  the 
Tzar.  Tolstoi  was  afterwards  sent  to  Siberia.  Catherine  suc- 
ceeded, however,  in  bridling  the  ambition  of  her  favorite,  and 
refused  to  sacrifice  her  other  councillors  to  him. 

This  regime  was  the  continuation  ot  that  of  Peter,  It  disap- 
pointed the  pessimist  predictions  which  announced  the  abandon- 
ment of  St.  Petersburg  and  the  fleet,  and  the  return  to  Moscow. 
Most  of  the  schemes  of  the  reforming  Tzar  were  carried  out. 
The  Academy  of  Sciences  was  inaugurated  in  1736  ;  the  publi- 
cation of  the  Gazette  was  carefully  watched  over  ;  the  Order  of 
Alexander  Nevski  was  founded  •  Behring,  the  Danish  captain, 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  ccientific  expedition  to  Kamschatka ; 
Chafirof,  recalled  from  banishment,  was  ordered  to  write  the 
History  of  Peter  the  Great ;  Anne  Petrovna  solemnly  married 
the  Duke  of  Holstein  to  whom  she  had  been  betrothed  by  her 
father.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Senate  and  the  Holy  Synod  lost 
their  title  of  "  directing,"  and  affairs  of  State  had  to  be  con- 
ducted in  the  "  Secret  High  Council,"  composed  of  Menchikof, 
of  the  Admiral  Apraxine,  of  the  Chancellor  Golovkine,  Tolstoi, 
Dmitri  Galitsyne,  and  of  the  Vice-Chancellor  Ostermann,  which 
met  under  the  presidency  of  the  Empress. 

On  her  death-bed,  Catherine  nominated  Peter  Alexie'vitch, 
her  husband's  grandson,  as  her  successor,  and,  in  default  of 
Peter,  her  two  daughters  Anne  of  Holstein  and  Elizabeth. 
During  the  minority  of  the  young  Emperor  the  regency  was  ex- 
ercised by  a  council  composed  of  the  two  Tzartfvni,  of  the  Duke 
of  Holstein,  of  Menchikof,  and  of  seven  or  eight  of  the  principal 
dignitaries  of  the  empire. 

Menchikof  had  taken  measures  to  keep  his  high  appointment 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


55 


under  the  new  reign,  and  even  to  increase  his  power.  He  had 
obtained  from  Catherine  the  promise  that  she  would  consent  to 
the  young  prince's  betrothal  to  his  own  daughter,  though  she 
was  the  elder  by  two  years.  He  assigned  his  own  palace  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  river  as  the  Emperor's  residence,  and  surrounded 
him  by  men  devoted  to  his  own  interests.  He  caused  himself 
to  be  made  Generalissimo,  and  signed  his  letters  to  his  sovereign 
with  the  words,  "  Your  father."  He  had  the  members  of  his  own 
family  inscribed  in  the  almanac  with  those  of  the  imperial  house, 
and  his  daughter  mentioned  in  the  public  prayers.  He  even 
planned  to  marry  Natalia  Alexievna  to  his  son  at  the  same  time 
that  his  daughter  became  the  wife  of  the  Emperor.  Peter  II. 
soon  began  to  be  impatient  of  the  government  of  the  General- 
issimo. Menchikof  had  given  him  as  tutor  the  Vice-Chancellor 
Ostermann,  but  the  young  prince  detested  study,  and  preferred 
to  hunt  with  his  favorite,  Ivan  Dolgorouki.  The  clever  Oster- 
mann took  care  to  make  Menchikof  responsible  for  his  appoint- 
ment as  tutor,  and  to  excuse  himself  as  best  he  could  to  the 
prince.  One  day  the  Emperor  sent  a  present  of  nine  thousand 
ducats  to  his  sister  Natalia.  Menchikof  had  the  insolence  to 
take  them  from  the  princess,  saying  that  "  the  Emperor  was 
young,  and  did  not  yet  know  how  to  use  money  properly."  This 
time  Peter  rebelled,  and  the  prince  appeased  him  with  great 
difficulty.  Another  enemy  of  the  Generalissimo,  who  managed 
playfully  to  undermine  his  popularity,  was  Elizabeth,  the  young 
aunt  of  Peter  II.,  and  the  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great.  She 
was  then  seventeen  years  old,  bright,  gay,  and  careless,  with  a 
pink-and-white  complexion  and  blue  eyes  ;  and  she  laughed  the 
intolerable  guardiai  out  of  power.  An  illness  of  Menchikof,  by 
keeping  him  away  from  court,  paved  the  way  for  his  fall.  Peter 
II.  accustomed  himself  to  the  idea  of  getting  rid  of  him. 
When  the  prince  recovered  and  began  as  usual  to  oppose  his 
wishes,  Peter  quitted  Menchikof's  palace,  caused  the  furniture 
belonging  to  the  Crown  to  be  removed  from  it  and  placed  in  the 
imperial  palace,  treated  his  fiancee  with  marked  coldness,  and 
finally  commanded  the  Guards  to  take  no  orders  but  from  their 
colonels.  This  was  the  prelude  to  a  public  disgrace.  In 
September  1727  Menchikof  was  arrested,  despoiled  of  all  his 
dignities  and  decorations,  and  banished  to  his  own  lands. 

The  Dolgoroukis  profited  by  the  revolution  they  had  prepared, 
but  immediately  committed  the  same  fault  as  Menchikof,  and 
surrounded  Peter  with  the  same  officious  attentions.  Like 
Menchikof,  they  banished  all  who  offended  them  (even  Oster- 
mann, to  whom  the  Emperor  began  to  be  attached  ;  and  the 
old   Tzarina    Eudoxia    Lapoukhine,    who   had    been   recalled 


56  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

from  the  prison  in  Ladoga).  Using  as  a  pretext  some  insulting 
placards  recalling  the  services  of  Menchikof,  they  exiled  him  to 
Berezof  in  Siberia,  where  he  died  in  1729.  Unwarned  by  his 
example,  they  imposed  on  the  prince  a  new  bride — Catherine 
Dolgorouki,  the  sister  of  his  favorite  Ivan.  Their  administra- 
tion then  assumed  the  character  of  a  reaction  against  the  reforms 
of  Peter  the  Great.  Ostermann  and  all  the  faithful  servants, 
foreign  or  Russian,  of  the  ."  Giant  Tzar,"  saw  with  sorrow  the 
return  of  the  court  to  Moscow,  and  its  indifference  to  all  Euro- 
pean affairs.  In  order  the  better  to  keep  their  master  to  them- 
selves, the  Dolgoroukis  nattered  his  tastes  for  frivolity  and 
dissipation,  and  organized  great  hunting  parties  which  lasted  for 
whole  weeks.  Peter  would  have  wearied  of  them  in  the 
end  as  he  did  of  Menchikof.  He  had  already  replied  to  his 
aunt  Elizabeth,  who  complained  that  she  was  left  without  money, 
"It  is  not  my  fault;  they  never  execute  my  orders,  but  I  shall 
find  means  of  breaking  my  fetters."  The  crisis  happened,  but 
not  as  had  been  expected.  In  January  1730  the  young  Emperor 
caught  cold  at  the  ceremony  of  the  benediction  of  the  waters, 
and  died  suddenly  of  small-pox.     He  was  seventeen  years  old. 

The  two  reigns  of  Catherine  and  Peter  II. ,  which  only  lasted 
in  all  five  years,  were  peaceful. 

In  1726  Russia  had  concluded  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  the 
Court  of  Vienna,  and  found  herself  involved,  in  1727,  in  the  war 
of  the  quadruple  alliance.  Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Kou- 
rakine  and  of  Campredon,  the  failure  of  the  projected  marriage 
of  Louis  XV.  and  Elizabeth  had  produced  a  coldness  between 
France  and  Russia.  The  most  curious  episode  in  the  foreign 
relations  was  the  attempt  of  Maurice  de  Saxe,  illegitimate  son 
of  the  king  Augustus,  to  get  possession  of  the  Duchy  of  Courland. 
The  offer  of  his  hand  had  been  accepted  by  the  Duchess  Anne 
Ivanovna,  now  a  widow  ;  he  had  been  elected  at  Mittau  by  the 
deputies  of  the  nobility.  Neglecting  the  protest  of  the  Polish 
diet  and  the  remonstrances  of  France  and  Russia,  he  raised 
troops  with  the  money  produced  by  the  sale  of  the  diamonds 
belonging  to  an  abbess  of  Quedlimburg,  and  a  French  comedian, 
his  mother  Aurora  von  Konigsmark,  and  his  mistress  Adrienne 
Lecouvreur,  and  began  to  put  the  duchy  in  a  state  of  defence. 
He  was  disavowed  by  his  father,  and  Cardinal  Fleury  did  not 
dare  to  support  him  even  indirectly.  Menchikof,  left  more  free 
since  the  death  of  Catherine  I.,  was  himself  a  candidate  for  the 
Duchy.  He  sent  Lascy,  at  the  head  of  8000  men,  to  expel  the 
Saxon  adventurers ;  and  the  future  victor  of  Fontenoy  could 
only  collect  247  men  in  the  isle  of  Usmaiis,  and  was  obliged,  in 
his  retreat,  to  swim  across  an  arm  of  the  sea.     His  election  was 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  5  y 

annulled,  his  father  publicly  called  him  a  galopin,  and  Courland 
once  more  fell  back  under  Russian  influence. 

A  treaty  with  Prussia  was  signed  under  Peter  II.,  in  virtue 
of  which  the  two  Powers  engaged  at  the  death  of  Augustus  to 
support  the  candidate  whom  they  might  choose  for  Poland.  The 
Emperor  Charles  VI.  and  the  "  sergeant-king  "  sounded  Russia 
about  an  eventual  dismemberment  of  the  republic  of  Poland. 
This  is  the  first  time  the  question  of  partition  was  mooted. 

In  Asia,  Jagoujinski  concluded  on  the  Boura  a  treaty  of 
commerce  with  the  Celestial  Empire,  in  the  name  of  Peter  II. 
Every  three  years  Russian  caravans  might  goto  Pekin  and  trade 
without  paying  dues.  Russia  might  keep  four  priests  at  Pekin, 
and  six  young  men  to  learn  Chinese.  Kiakhta,  on  the  Russian 
territory,  and  Maimaitchine,  on  the  Chinese  territory,  were  the 
authorized  depots. 


$% 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  TWO  ANNES  :   REIGN    OF    ANNE    IVANOVNA,  AND    REGENCY    OF 
ANNE    LEOPOLDOVNA  (1730-1741). 

Attempt  at  an  aristocratic  constitution  (1730):  the  "  Bironovchtchina"— 
Succession  of  Poland  (1733-1735)  and  war  with  Turkey  (1735-1739) — Ivan 
VI. — Regency  of  Biren  and  Anne — Revolution  of  1741. 


ATTEMPT   AT   AN    ARISTOCRATIC   CONSTITUTION    (1730)  :   THE 
"  BIRONOVCHTCHINA." 

The  untimely  death  of  the  last  male  heir  of  Peter  I.  had 
taken  all  the  world  by  surprise.  It  was  so  sudden  that  no  party 
had  been  formed  to  determine  the  succession.  Peter  had  left 
„  two  daughters,  Elizabeth  and  Anne,  Duchess  of  Holstein,  who 
died  in  1728,  and  was  represented  by  her  son,  afterwards  Peter 
III.  The  Tzar's  brother,  Ivan  Alexievitch  V.,  had  also  left  two 
daughters,  Anne  Ivanovna,  Duchess  of  Courland,  and  Catherine 
Ivanovna,  Duchess  of  Mecklenburg;  the  wishes  of  some  even 
turned  towards  the  late  Emperor's  grandmother,  the  Tzarina 
Lapoukhine.  Alexis  Dolgorouki,  father  of  the  friend  of  Peter 
II.,  had  yet  a  bolder  idea;  he  claimed  the  throne  for  his  daugh- 
ter Catherine,  although  she  was  not  even  Peter's  wife,  but  only 
his  fiancee,  and  had  the  audacity  to  boast  of  a  "  certain  will  "  of 
the  sovereign,  instituting  her  his  heir.  This  proposal  naturally 
found  little  favor  in  the  Secret  High  Council,  and  was  rejected 
with  contempt,  even  by  a  part  of  the  house  of  Dolgorouki,  whose 
chiefs  did  not  relish  the  notion  of  being  the  subjects  of  their 
niece.  Another  step  was  decided  on.  In  the  absence  of  the 
prudent  Ostermann,  who  summoned  to  his  aid  a  pretended  ill- 
ness, and  the  fact  of  his  being  a  foreigner,  the  Secret  High 
Council  was,  with  the  addition  of  the  marshals  Dolgorouki  and 
Galitsyne,  almost  entirely  composed  of  the  great  Russian  no- 
bility. It  found  itself,  as  the  principal  organ  of  government,  in- 
vested with  the  chief  power,  and  master  of  the  position.  It  re- 
solved to  profit  by  these  circumstances  to  limit  the  supreme 
authority,  to  give  to  the  Russian  aristocracy  a  sort  of  constitu- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


59 


tional  charter,  and  to  impose  on  the  sovereign  who  might  be 
elected  a  kind  of  pacta  conventa,  such  as  existed  in  the  republic 
of  Poland.  Elizabeth  and  the  Duchess  of  Holstein,  being  the 
nearest  to  the  throne,  would  no  doubt  manifest  the  greatest  re- 
luctance to  accept  these  conditions.  Thus  it  was  necessary  to 
turn  to  another  branch  of  the  family  of  Romanof,  to  the  line  of 
Ivan,  and  offer  the  crown  to  a  princess  who,  having  no  hopes  of 
gaining  the  throne,  would  be  ready  to  accede  to  all  the  Council 
wished.  The  Council  then  resolved  to  open  negotiations  with 
Anne  Ivanovna,  and  to  propose  to  her  the  following  terms : — i. 
The  High  Council  should  always  be  composed  of  eight  members 
to  be  renewed  by  co-option,  and  to  be  consulted  by  the  Tzarina 
in  all  affairs  of  Government.  2.  Without  the  consent  of  the 
Council  she  was  to  make  neither  peace  nor  war,  to  impose  no 
taxes,  to  alienate  no  crown  lands,  to  nominate  to  no  post  nor 
any  rank  above  that  of  colonel.  3.  She  was  to  put  to  death  no 
member  of  the  nobility,  nor  confiscate  the  property  of  any  noble, 
without  a  regular  trial.  4.  She  was  neither  to  marry  nor  to 
choose  a  successor  without  the  consent  of  the  Council.  "  And," 
adds  the  draft  of  the  letter  laid  before  her  for  signature,  and 
containing  the  points  indicated,  "  in  case  of  my  ceasing  to  fulfil 
my  engagements,  I  shall  forfeit  the  crown  of  Russia."  This 
was  the  si  non  non  of  the  Cortez  of  Aragon.  If  this  constitution 
had  been  carried  out,  Russia  would  have  become  an  oligarchic 
republic  instead  of  an  autocratic  empire,  a  sort  oipospolite  where 
nothing  would  have  remained  of  the  work  of  the  Ivans  and 
Peter  the  Great.  The  High  Council  likewise  proposed  to  fix  the 
seat  of  government  at  Moscow. 

This  constitution,  which  assured  to  the  Russian  nobles  the 
inviolability  of  their  persons  and  property  (the  English  habeas 
corpus  and  right  of  taxation),  raised,  however,  a  general  outcry. 
What !  impose  on  Russia  the  same  anarchic  institutions  that  the 
three  Northern  powers  had  maintained  in  Poland  ?  All  the  guar- 
antees, all  the  rights,  all  the  authority  were  reserved  to  the 
members  of  the  High  Council.  Instead  of  one  Tzar  they  would 
have  eight.  And  who  were  these  eight  ?  Golovkine  and  Os- 
termann  excepted,  they  were  all  Galitsynes  and  Dolgoroukis — 
two  Galitsynes  and  four  Dolgoroukis ;  the  empire  was  to  be  the 
property  of  the  two  families.  If  the  monarchical  instincts  of 
the  greater  number,  and  the  aristocratic  jealousy  of  many  others, 
were  excited,  the  partisans  of  reform  were  troubled  at  finding  in 
the  supreme  council  only  the  members  of  the  old  noblesse,  and 
the  upholders  of  the  ancient  order  of  things.  The  discontent 
broke  forth  in  murmurs  and  turmoils  ;  the  High  Council  was 
obliged  to  take  severe  measures  against  meetings — a  singular 


6o  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

inauguration  of  the  reign  of  liberty,  which  proved  how  little  sym« 
pathy  the  attempt  of  the  nobles  met  with  from  the  nation 

A  few  days  later  the  High  Council  convoked  the  general 
assembly  to  listen  to  the  letter  in  which  Anne  Ivanovna  a>*- 
nounced  her  acceptance  of  all  the  conditions.  "  There  was  no 
one  present,"  says  Archbishop  Feofane,  "  who  heard  the  letter 
who  did  not  tremble  in  all  his  limbs.  Even  those  who  had  hoped 
much  from  this  reunion  lowered  their  ears  like  poor  asses  :  there 
was  a  '  hush  '  and  a  general  murmur,  but  none  dared  to  speak 
or  cry  out."  The  five  hundred  people  present  silently  affixed 
their  signatures.  The  new  Empress  made,  however,  her  solemn 
entrance  into  Moscow.  Vassili  Loukitch  and  his  party  consti- 
tuted themselves  the  guards  of  the  Empress,  surrounded  her 
jealously,  and  saw  that  no  enemy  of  the  constitution  came  near 
her.  The  malcontents,  with  Feofane  at  their  head,  agitated  the 
clergy  and  the  people.  They  found  means  to  pass  some  notes  to 
the  Empress,  acquainting  her  with  the  situation,  and  imploring 
her  to  act  energetically.  Children  or  ladies-in-waiting  served  as 
go-betweens.  On  the  25th  of  February,  1731,  the  members  of 
the  Council  were  deliberating,  when  they  were  suddenly  sum- 
moned before  the  Empress.  They  were  much  astonished  to  find 
an  assembly  composed  of  eight  hundred  persons,  belonging  to 
the  senate,  the  clergy,  the  nobility,  and  to  the  different  admin- 
istrations, who  laid  before  Anne  a  petition  that  she  would  ex- 
amine the  complaints  addressed  to  the  High  Council  about  the 
new  constitution.  At  the  lower  end  of  the  hall  the  officers  of 
the  guard  cried  out  in  excitement,  "  We  do  not  want  them  to 
lay  down  the  law  to  the  Empress.  Let  her  be  an  autocrat  like 
her  predecessors  ! "  Others  offered  "  to  lay  at  her  feet  the 
heads  of  her  enemies."  She  calmed  their  agitation,  and  pro- 
rogued the  sitting  till  the  afternoon,  when  the  deputies  presented 
a  formal  request  for  the  re-establishment  of  autocracy.  The 
Empress  was  astonished,  and  exclaimed,  "  What !  the  conditions 
sent  me  at  Mittau,  were  thev  not  the  will  of  the  whole  nation  ?  " 
"  No,  no,"  they  cried.  "  Then,"  she  said,  turning  to  Vassili 
Loukitch,  "  you  have  deceived  me." 

Such  was  the  check  received  by  the  first  liberal  constitution 
that  had  ever  been  tried  in  Russia.  "  The  table  was  prepared," 
said  Prince  Dmitri  Galitsyne,  "  but  the  guests  were  not  worthy. 
I  know  that  I  shall  pay  for  the  failure  of  this  enterprise  ;  so  be 
it.  I  shall  suffer  for  my  country,  I  have  not  long  to  live,  and 
those  who  cause  me  to  weep  will  one  day  weep  themselves." 
The  Galitsynes  and  Dolgoroukis  did  indeed  expiate  this  generous 
attempt,  in  which  unhappily  they  had  taken  no  thought  of  the 
time  nor  the  country.     Anne's  vengeance  was  cunning,  refined 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  6 1 

and  gradual  She  began  by  banishing  them  to  their  property; 
then,  seeing  that  no  one  protested,  exiled  them  to  Sideria. 
Finally,  encouraged  by  the  universal  silence,  she  crowned  her 
revenge.  The  marshals  Dolgorouki  and  Galitsyne  died  in 
prison  ;  Vassili  Loukitch  and  two  other  Dolgoroukis  were  be- 
headed ;  Ivan,  the  former  favorite,  was  broken  on  the  wheel 
at  Novgorod.  With  these  sufferings  is  associated  the  touching 
and  tragic  history  of  Natalia  Cheremetief,  betrothed  wife  of  Ivan 
Dolgorouki,  who,  having  accepted  his  hand  in  the  days  of  his 
prosperity,  persisted  in  sharing  his  misfortunes. 

Anne  Ivanovna  was  then  thirty-five  years  of  age.  In  her 
youth  she  had  lived  in  the  dreary  court  of  Mittau,  a  bride  sought 
for  her  duchy,  the  political  plaything  of  the  four  Northern  courts, 
despised  by  Menchikof,  and  receiving  orders  and  reproaches 
from  Moscow.  The  bitterness  of  her  regrets  and  her  disappoint- 
ments was  painted  in  her  severe  countenance,  and  reflected  in 
her  soured  and  coldly  cruel  character.  A  head  taller  than  the 
gentlemen  of  her  court,  with  a  hard  and  masculine  beauty,  and 
the  deep  voice  of  a  man,  she  was  imposing,  and  even  terrible. 
The  aristocratic  attempt  of  1730  had  made  her  mistrust  the 
Russians,  and  she  felt  that  a  project  less  exclusive  and  more 
clever  than  that  of  the  High  Council  would  perhaps  have  had  a 
chance  with  the  Russian  nation.  By  precaution,  and  from  taste, 
she  surrounded  herself  with  Germans,  Biren  or  Biron  at  the 
head  of  them,  a  Courlander  of  low  extraction,  whom  the  ducal 
nobility  had  refused  to  admit  amongst  them,  and  whom  she 
created  Duke  of  Courland  and  Prince  of  the  Holy  Empire.  She 
made  Lcewenvald  manager  of  court  affairs,  Ostermann  chief  of 
the  foreign  administration,  Korff  and  Kayserling  of  the  em- 
bassies ;  Lascy,  Munich,  Bismark,  and  Gustaf  Biren  of  the  army. 
It  was  in  Germany  that  she  chose  to  seek  for  her  successor, — 
Anne,  daughter  of  Catherine  Ivanovna,  Princess  of  Mecklen- 
burg, with  her  husband,  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  Bevern,  and 
their  little  emperor,  Ivan  VI.  The  Germans  ruled  in  Russia, 
just  us  the  Tatars  had  formerly  done  ;  and  a  new  word,  Bir- 
onovchtchina,  expressive  of  the  new  regime,  was  coined  on  the 
model  of  the  old  Tatarchtchina.  But  if  the  Germans  were 
triumphant,  was  it  not  the  fault  of  the  Russians  themselves  ? 
The  "  eaglets  "  of  Peter  the  Great  had  torn  each  other  to  pieces. 
Menchikof  had  ruined  Tolstoi  and  Jagoujinski,  and  was  in  his 
turn  destroyed  by  the  Dolgoroukis,  themselves  victims,  with  the 
Galitsynes,  of  the  national  hate.  Besides  all  this,  the  strangers 
who  took  their  posts  and  filled  the  place  they  had  left  vacant 
were  far  more  laborious  and  more  exact  than  the  natives.  The 
Russians  had  still  to  pass  through  a  hard  school  to  acquire  the 
qualities  they  lacked. 


62  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

The  new  government  was  pitiless  towards  the  Russians  : 
Feofilakt  Lopatinski  was  deposed  and  imprisoned  in  Viborg,  for 
having  edited  Stephen  Javorski's  book  against  the  Protestants 
('  The  Stone  (Peter)  and  the  Faith  ') ;  and  Volynski,  one  of  those 
who  had  most  loudly  protested  in  favor  of  autocracy,  had  the 
misfortune  to  offend  the  favorite  by  his  anti-German  sentiments, 
and  was  cruelly  tortured  and  beheaded.  Thousands  of  execu- 
tions and  banishments  decimated  the  upper  classes,  and  a  merci- 
less collection  of  arrears  of  taxes,  which  Russian  indolence  had 
allowed  to  accumulate,  desolated  the  country,  while  the  peasants 
beheld  their  last  head  of  cattie,  their  last  tool,  sizeed  by  the 
government  for  payment.  The  new  despotism  methodically 
organized  its  means  of  oppression.  No  doubt  it  suppressed  the 
High  Council,  in  order  to  restore  the  epithet  of  "  directing  "  to 
the  senate,  but  in  reality  it  was  the  Cabinet  composed  of  the 
ministers,  and  presided  over  by  the  Empress,  that  regulated  all 
affairs.  The  old  "  Prikaz  of  Reformation  "  was  re-established 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Secret  Court  of  Chancery,"  and  the 
cruel  Ouchakof  placed  at  the  head.  As  the  Empress  had  con- 
fidence only  in  her  guards,  two  new  regiments,  the  Isma'ilovski, 
and  the  horse  guards,  were  created.  Foreign  officers  were 
everywhere,  and  the  brothers  of  the  German  favorites  distributed 
among  themselves  the  ranks  of  colonel  and  lieutenant-colonel. 

Reassured  as  to  the  solidity  of  her  throne,  Anne  only  thought 
how  to  make  up  for  the  time  she  had  wasted  in  ennui  and  regret. 
She  surrounded  herself  with  jesters,  and,  as  if  to  humiliate  the 
nation,  she  forced  Nastasia  and  Anisia,  two  Russian  princesses, 
and  a  Volkonski  and  a  Galitsyne,  two  Russian  princes,  to  gulp 
balls  of  pastry,  or  to  crouch  in  the  position  of  hens  sitting  on 
eggs,  for  the  amusement  of  the  court.  Balls,  fetes,  and  mas- 
querades followed  each  other  without  interruption.  The  Em- 
press set  the  example  of  unbridled  luxury,  till  then  unheard  of 
in  Russia,  and  ruinous  to  a  poor  country.  Up  to  that  time  the 
greatest  nobles  and  ladies  had  taken  no  heed  of  the  caprices  of 
fashion  ;  they  replaced  their  clothes  when  they  became  old,  and 
wore  without  shame  the  garments  of  their  grandparents.  Manstein 
informs  us  that,  under  Anne,  a  courtier  with  a  revenue  of  two 
or  three  thousand  roubles  cut  but  a  poor  figure  ;  costumiers  got 
rich  in  two  or  three  years  ;  people  carried  their  patrimony,  often 
the  price  of  whole  villages,  on  their  backs  ;  they  played  heavily 
at  faro  and  at  quinze.  In  the  luxury  with  which  the  court  of 
Anne  dazzled  Russia,  there  was  a  mixture  of  antique  barbarism 
and  bad  German  taste  which  moved  the  mirth  of  Western 
travellers.  For  one  well-dressed  woman  there  were  ten  who 
made  themselves  frightful  objects.      "  Among  the  men,"  says 


HISTORY  OP  RUSSIA.  63 

Manstein,  "  the  most  gorgeous  coat  was  often  accompanied  by 
an  ill-combed  wig  ;  a  beautiful  piece  of  stuff  was  spoilt  by  a 
dumsy  tailor  ;  or,  if  the  dress  chanced  to  be  successful,  the 
equipages  were  defective  ;  a  superbly  dressed  man  would  arrive 
in  a  shabby  old  vehicle  drawn  by  two  screws."  "  The  favorite 
Biren,"  relates  Prince  Dolgoroukof,  "  loved  bright  colors,  there- 
fore black  coats  were  forbidden  at  court,  and  every  one  appeared 
in  brilliant  raiment  :  nothing  was  seen  but  light  blue,  pale 
green,  yellow,  and  pink.  Old  men  like  Prince  Tcherkasski,  or 
the  Vice-Chancellor  Osterrnann,  arrived  at  the  palace  in  rose- 
color  costumes."  This  was  of  slight  importance.  Russian 
taste  would  be  formed  in  time,  especially  by  the  help  of  another 
school.  The  Germans  prepared  the  way  for  the  French.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  dress  and  domestic  economy,  the  Biron- 
ovchtchina  marks  an  important  revolution  in  Russia. 

Manners  were  still  very  gross.  Anne  amused  herself  with 
low  buffoonery.  Manstein  says  she  liked  Italian  and  German 
comedies  for  the  sake  of  the  frequent  blows  with  a  stick. 
Volynski,  a  Cabinet  minister,  thrashed  the  poet  Trediakovski. 
There  were  complaints  that  in  the  army  the  superior  officers 
obliged  the  military  doctors  to  serve  them  as  cooks  or  hair- 
dressers. The  exposure  on  poles  of  the  heads  or  quarters  of 
traitors  had  only  just  been  suppressed  by  Peter  II.  Jagoujinski, 
the  Procurator-General  of  the  Senate,  got  so  intoxicated  that  he 
ventured  to  insult  the  old  Osterrnann  before  the  Empress,  who 
shook  with  laughter.  Soltykof,  Governor  of  Moscow,  denounced 
Tchikirine,  the  official  who,  "forgetting  that  he  was  in  the  house 
of  her  Majesty,  had  refused  to  get  drunk." 

It  is  an  important  fact  that  the  German  masters  of  Russia 
resolved  to  maintain  the  reforms  of  Peter.  After  her  corona- 
tion, Anne  returned  to  Saint  Petersburg. 

She  abolished  entail,  which  Peter  the  Great  had  unfortu- 
nately borrowed  from  Western  nations,  and  which  had  produced 
sad  results  in  Russia.  The  fathers  of  families  taxed  their 
peasants  to  wring  out  portions-  for  the  younger  sons  ;  if  they 
bequeathed  the  land  to  the  eldest,  they  gave  the  cattle  to  the 
other  sons.  On  the  other  hand,  the  time  devoted  to  the  educa- 
tion and  the  military  service  of  the  young  nobles  was  more 
clearly  defined.  From  the  age  of  seven  to  that  of  twenty  the 
young  noble  was  to  study,  and  from  twenty  to  forty-five  he 
was  to  serve  the  State.  Examinations  were  established,  to 
test  the  progress  of  the  boys  ;  from  twelve  to  sixteen  they  had 
to  appear  before  a  board,  and  whoever  after  the  second  exami- 
nation was  found  ignorant  of  the  catechism,  arithmetic,  and 
geometry,   was   forced   to  become   a  sailor.      These   rigorous 


64  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

measures  prove  how  indifferent  the  mass  of  the  nobles  thee 
were  to  the  advantages  of  education.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  rule  of  the  Germans,  rough  instructors  though  they  were, 
had  a  salutary  influence  on  Russian  civilization.  On  the  sug- 
gestion of  Munich,  the  "  corps  of  cadets  "  for  360  young  nobles 
was  founded  at  St.  Petersburg.  General  education  held  a  larger 
place  in  his  programme  than  purely  military  instruction.  Boys 
were  prepared  for  the  civil  service  as  well  as  for  the  army. 
Orthography,  style,  rhetoric,  jurisprudence,  ethics,  heraldry, 
arithmetic,  fortifications,  artillery,  geography,  general  history, 
and  the  history  of  Germany  (not  Russia)  were  all  taught.  The 
most  industrious  and  the  most  distinguished  pupils  might,  after 
they  had  finished  the  preliminary  courses,  follow  those  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences. 


SUCCESSION    OF    POLAND    (l733"I735)   AND    WAR    WITH    TURKEY 

(i735-x739)' 

With  regard  to  the  East,  the  government  of  Anne  Ivanovna 
resolved  to  abandon  the  Persian  provinces  conquered  by  Peter 
the  Great  where  the  climate  had  proved  fatal  to  the  Russian 
armies. 

In  1733,  after  the  death  of  Augustus  II.,  the  question  of  the 
succession  of  Poland  was  re-opened.  Prussia,  which  desired  to 
weaken  Poland,  did  not  wish  to  support  either  the  French  candi- 
date, Leszczinski,  or  the  Saxon  candidate,  Augustus  III.  Aus- 
tria, on  the  contrary,  which  would  gladly  have  beheld  Poland 
sufficiently  strong  to  aid  her  against  the  Turks,  declared  for 
Augustus.  Russia,  whose  object  it  was  to  remain  mistress  in 
Poland  and  Courland,  cared  little  who  was  elected,  provided  it 
was  neither  a  powerful  prince  nor  a  client  of  France.  Now 
Louis  XV.  thought  himself  bound  in  honor  to  maintain  the 
cause  of  his  father-in-law,  Stanislas  Leszczinski,  the  forme x protege 
of  Charles  XII.  The  Power  whose  interests  in  this  affair  almost 
corresponded  with  those  of  Russia  was  therefore  the  house  of 
Austria.  The  Austro-Russian  alliance,  inaugurated  under  Cath- 
erine I.,  was  cemented  under  Anne  Ivanovna.  Prussia,  whose 
project  of  partition  had  been  set  aside,  remained  neutral.  The 
struggle  between  France  and  Russia  began  by  a  diplomatic 
rivalry.  We  find  at  Berlin  La  Chetardie  pitted  against  Jagou- 
jinski;  at  Stockholm,  Saint  Seve'rin  against  Michael  Bestoujef; 
at  Copenhagen,  Plelo  against  Alexis  Bestoujef ;  at  Constanti- 
nople, Villeneuve  against  Neplouef ;  at  Warsaw,  Monti,  against 
Lcewenwald.     France  hoped  to  support  her  candidate  by  Swedish 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  65 

and  Turkish  diversions,  and  to  render  the  neutrality  of  Prussia 
more  favorable  ;  in  Poland  she  worked  as  hard  to  persuade  as 
Russia  to  intimidate. 

Even  at  St.  Petersburg,  the  French  ambassador,  Magnan, 
neglected  nothing  to  gain  over  the  Empress  and  her  favorite  to 
a  more  peaceful  policy,  but  the  struggle  was  inevitable.  Whilst 
a  false  Leszczinski,  the  Chevalier  de  Thiange,  ostentatiously 
embarked  at  Brest,  the  real  Stanislas  disguised  as  a  commercial 
traveller,  crossed  Europe,  and  entered  Warsaw  at  night.  Sixty 
thousand  nobles  declared  in  his  favor  on  the  field  of  election, 
and  there  were  only  four  thousand  dissidents.  He  was  there- 
fore legitimate  King  of  Poland,  yet  the  Russian  army  was  invad- 
ing the  territory  of  the  republic.  Then  Stanislas  called  the 
pospolite  to  arms,  and  retired  into  the  maritime  fortress  of 
Dantzig  to  await  succor  from  France.  After  his  departure,  the 
malcontents,  under  the  protection  of  20,000  Russian  bayonets, 
proclaimed  Augustus  III.  Stanislas  found  himself  besieged  in 
Dantzig  by  Marshal  Munich,  who,  without  waiting  for  the  artil- 
lery, took  the  faubourg  of  Schotlandia  by  assault.  The  King  of 
Prussia  refused  a  passage  through  his  territory  to  the  Russian 
guns,  and  the  French  frigates  were  watching  the  sea  ;  but  not- 
withstanding the  blockade,  Munich  received  his  cannon,  and  by 
the  capture  of  Sommerschantz  cut  off  the  communications  of 
Dantzig  with  Wechselmiinde  and  the  mouth  of  the  Vistula  ;  he 
then  threw  1500  bombs  into  the  town.  He  failed,  however,  in 
a  bloody  midnight  attack  on  the  fort  of  Hagelsberg.  The 
French  troops  came  up,  led  by  Count  de  Plelo  and  Lamothe  de 
la  Peyrouse,  but  only  numbered  2000  men.  Plelo  was  killed, 
and  the  Count  de  Lamothe,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Wechsel- 
miinde, had  to  capitulate.  Dantzig  opened  her  gates.  Stanislas 
had  already  fled,  disguised  as  a  peasant.  Such  was  the  first 
contest  between  the  French  and  the  Russians.  Lady  Rondeau 
gives  an  account  of  the  presentation  of  the  Count  de  Lamothe 
and  his  officers  to  the  Tzarina ;  the  soldiers  were  quartered  in 
the  camp  of  Koporie,  in  Ingria  ;  and  Anne  did  all  she  could  to 
make  them  desert  and  to  draw  them  into  her  service.  Monti, 
the  French  ambassador  at  Warsaw,  was  taken  prisoner  at  Dant- 
zig, and  in  spite  of  his  diplomatic  character  was  retained  in 
captivity. 

The  war  of  the  Polish  Succession  was  ended  in  Poland ;  it 
began  on  the  Rhine  and  in  Italy,  and  it  was  the  house  of  Austria 
that  paid  for  it.  The  French  excited  against  her  the  electors 
of  Cologne,  Mayence,  Bavaria,  and  the  Palatinate  ;  took  Kehl 
and  Philippsburg,  and  deprived  her  of  the  Duchy  of  Parma  and 
the  kingdom  of  Naples.     In  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  alliance  of 


66  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

1726,  the  EmpeTor  demanded  help  of  the  Tzarina.  Lascy,  at 
the  head  of  20,000  men,  crossed  Silesia,  Bohemia,  and  Fran- 
conia,  diplaying  a  Russian  army  for  the  first  time  before  the 
eyes  of  Western  Germany;  and  on  the  15th  of  August,  1735, 
formed  a  junction  with  the  Austrian  troops  between  Heidelberg 
and  Ladenberg,  two  miles  from  the  French  outposts.  The 
Peace  of  Vienna,  however,  put  an  end  to  hostilities.  The  French 
had  revenged  themselves  on  Austria,  which  ceded  Lorraine  and 
part  of  Italy,  not  on  Russia,  which  had  .taken  Dantzig  under 
their  very  eyes.  The  efforts  of  the  French  ambassador  Ville* 
neuve,  of  the  renegade  Bonneval,  and  of  the  Hungarian  Ragotski, 
raised  the  Turks.  The  result  of  the  war  with  Poland  was  a  war 
in  the  East,  to  which  events  almost  added  a  Swedish  war. 

In  the  East  also,  Russia  had  Austria  for  an  ally.  Cam- 
paigns against  the  Turks,  across  the  desert  steppes  of  the 
South,  offered  the  same  difficulties  as  in  171 1,  as  everything  had 
to  be  carried  with  the  army,  even  wood  and  water.  In  spite  of 
all  Munich's  efforts,  the  Russian  cavalry  was  very  second-rate. 
The  army,  encumbered  with  baggage,  moved  slowly  over  the  in- 
terminable plains ;  it  seemed  lost  among  the  vastness  of  its  con- 
voys. A  simple  sergeant  had  ten  chariots,  an  officer  thirty,  the 
general  Gustaf  Biren  300  beasts  of  burden.  There  were  al- 
ways 10,000  sick  men  in  the  army,  which,  in  spite  of  the  dispen- 
sation of  the  Holy  Synod,  exhausted  itself  by  a  rigorous  observ- 
ance of  fasts  and  days  of  abstinence. 

In  1736  Lascy  took  Azof,  Munich  forced  the  lines  of  Perekop, 
pillaged  Bakhtchi-Se'rai,  the  capital  of  the  khans,  and  laid  waste 
the  Western  Crimea  in  such  a  way  that  the  prosperity  of  the 
country  has  never  recovered  it.  In  1737  Lascy  devastated  the 
eastern  part  of  the  peninsula,  whilst  Munich  took  Otchakof ;  in 
1739,  the  latter  gained  a  splendid  victory  at  Stavoutchani, 
captured  Khotin,  crossed  the  Pruth,  boasted  of  having  avenged 
the  defeat  of  Peter  the  Great,  and  entered  the  capital  of  Mol- 
davia. During  this  time  the  Austrians  were  constantly  beaten. 
They  feared  the  Russians  as  neighbors  of  their  orthodox  prov- 
inces of  Transylvania  and  Illyria,  more  than  they  did  the  Turks. 
They  insisted  on  the  conclusion  of  peace,  and  at  Belgrade  (1739) 
they  ceded  to  Turkey  all  Servia,  with  Orsova  and  Wallachia ; 
the  Russians  only  obtained  a  tongue  of  land  between  the  Bug 
and  the  Dnieper,  contented  themselves  with  the  demolition  of 
Azof,  and  surrendered  all  their  conquests.  This  war  had  cost 
them  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  men.  The  King  of  France 
had  just  proved  that  he  knew  how  to  reach  his  enemies,  even 
though  separated  from  him  by  vast  spaces.  Anne  Ivanovna 
found  herself  obliged  to  ask  his  mediation  to  prevent  a  war  with 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  67 

Sweden,  and  to  conclude  peace  with  the  Turks.  At  the  instance 
of  Ostermann,  and  by  orders  of  Louis  XV.,  Saint  Se'vdrin 
negotiated  at  Stockholm,  and  Vilieneuve  at  Constantinople. 
The  Empress  showed  her  gratitude  to  the  latter  by  offering  him 
15,000  thalers.  He  would  only  accept  the  cross  of  Saint  An- 
drew. Kantemir,  Russian  ambassador  at  Paris,  still  continued 
to  warn  his  court  that  "  Russia  being  the  only  Power  which  could 
counterbalance  that  of  France,  the  latter  would  lose  no  oppor- 
tunity of  diminishing  her  strength." 


IVAN  VI. — REGENCY  OF  BIREN  AND  ANNE — REVOLUTION  OF 

1741. 

The  weight  of  the  taxes,  the  rigor  with  which  they  were  col- 
lected, and  the  frequent  conscriptions  maddened  the  peasants, 
whilst  the  disgrace  of  Feofilakt,  of  Tatichtchef,  of  Roumantsof 
and  Makarof  (old  servants  of  Peter  the  Great),  as  well  as  the 
sacrifice  of  Volynski,  of  Galitsyne,  and  the  Dolgoroukis,  seemed 
to  threaten  the  whole  nation.  Soon  the  echoes  of  the  general 
discontent  reached  the  Secret  Court  of  Police.  The  people  at- 
tributed all  their  misfortunes  to  the  reign  of  a  woman,  and  re- 
peated the  proverb,  "  Cities  governed  by  women  do  not  endure  ; 
the  walls  built  by  women  are  never  high."  Others  said  the  corn 
did  not  grow  because  a  woman  ruled.  They  began  to  regret  the 
iron  despotism  of  Peter  I.,  and  a  popular  song  exhorts  him  to 
leave  his  tomb  and  chastise  "  Biren,  the  cursed  German."  The 
raskolniks  had  predicted  that  in  1733  the  wrath  of  God  would 
fall  on  men,  and  that  Anne  would  be  taken  and  judged  at  Mos- 
cow. She  reigned,  however,  till  1740,  at  which  time  her  health 
began  to  give  way.  Biren's  scheme  was  to  obtain  from  Anne 
Ivanovna  the  investiture  of  the  regency  during  the  minority  of 
the  little  Emperor  Ivan  of  Brunswick.  Alexis  Bestoujef,  who 
owed  his  fortune  to  Biren,  assured  him  of  the  support  of  Munich 
and  of  the  Cabinet-minister  Tcherkasski.  The  Germans  of  the 
court  said,  with  Mengden,  "  If  the  Duke  of  Courland  is  not  ap- 
pointed regent,  the  rest  of  us  Germans  are  lost."  The  Empress 
signed  the  nomination  of  Biren,  and  died  the  next  day.  Her 
last  words  to  her  favorite  were,  "  JV/ bo'is  "  (fear  nothing). 

Biren,  however,  had  his  own  reasons  for  feeling  uncomfort- 
able. The  Russians  were  indignant  at  having  a  master  imposed 
on  them  who  was  a  foreigner  and  a  heretic,  without  morality  and 
without  talent,  and  whose  only  claim  was  a  criminal  union  which 
dishonored  the  memory  of  their  Empress.  If  a  foreign  regent 
was  necessary,  why  not  have  the  father  of  the  Emperor  ?    Ths 


68  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

long  minority  of  a  child  only  three  months  old  at  the  death  of 
Anne  alarmed  every  one,  and  the  thoughts  of  many  turned  to- 
wards the  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  and  her  grandson  Peter 
of  Holstein.  The  reign  of  the  Germans  still  continued  ;  besides 
Biren,  the  empire  had  to  obey  the  Prince  Antony  of  Brunswick 
Bevern,  and  his  wife  Anne  Leopoldovna  of  Mecklenburg, 
governed  in  their  turn  by  Anne's  favorite  the  Saxon  Lynar,  and 
the  prince's  mistress,  Julia  Mengden.  Happily,  however,  these 
foreign  masters  never  thought  of  combining.  The  parents  of 
the  Emperor  bore  the  authority  of  Biren  with  impatience  ;  and 
the  latter,  discontented  with  their  conduct,  spoke  of  sending  for 
Peter  of  Holstein,  giving  him  his  daughter  in  marriage,  and 
marrying  his  son  to  Elizabeth.  The  fate  of  Menchikof  and  the 
Dolgoroukis  was  lost  on  him.  His  clumsy  nonentity  embar- 
rassed Ostermann  and  Munich  ;  and  the  latter,  in  an  interview 
with  Anne  Leopoldovna,  promised  her  to  get  rid  of  the  tyrant. 
His  aide-de-camp,  Manstein,  has  given  us  a  graphic  account  of 
this  coup  d'etat.  One  night  in  November,  Biren,  who  suspected 
nothing,  and  who  in  the  evening  had  dined  in  company  with 
Munich,  was  taken  from  his  bed,  the  Duchess  of  Courland  was 
thrust  almost  naked  from  the  palace,  all  his  friends  were  ar- 
rested, and  he  was  sent  to  Pelim,  in  Siberia.  . 

Munich  had  given  liberty  and  power  to  the  parents  of  the 
Emperor ;  how  could  they  reward  him  ?  Like  Menchikof,  he 
wished  to  be  Generalissimo,  but  Antony  of  Brunswick  coveted 
the  place.  Mtinich  then  contented  himself  with  the  title  of  First 
Minister;  and  Ostermann  was  recompensed  by  being  nomi- 
nated High  Admiral.  Antony,  Anne,  and  Ostermann  soon 
united  against  their  liberator  ;  and  Munich,  filled  with  disgust, 
sent  in  his  resignation.  The  Germans,  when  they  attained  the 
supreme  power,  conducted  themselves  exactly  like  the  "  eaglets  " 
of  Peter  the  Great :  they  mutually  banished  and  exterminated 
each  other.  The  father  and  mother  of  the  Emperor,  left  in 
possession  of  the  field,  continued  to  dispute  the  authority,  and  to 
reproach  each  other  with  their  mutual  infidelities.  Ostermann 
supported  Antony  against  Anne*  The  incapacity  of  the  Regent 
was  beyond  belief.  Not  having  the  energy  to  dress  herself, 
Anne  Leopoldovna  would  lie  for  whole  days  on  a  couch,  her 
head  covered  with  a  hankerchief,  conversing  with  her  intimate 
friends.  The  divisions  and  indifference  of  the  government 
threw  open  the  way  to  its  numerous  enemies  ;  they  only  wanted 
a  chief  who  would  attack  the  Brunswickers  as  they  had  success- 
fully attacted  Biren. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  who  had  been 
narrowly  watched  under  the  hard  rule  of  Anne  Ivanovna  and 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA.  69 

Biren,  raised  her  head  under  this  weak  government.  Twenty- 
eight  years  old,  tall  and  very  pretty,  with  great  quickness  of 
mind  though  very  ignorant,  livery  and  joyous,  a  bold  rider  and 
fearless  on  the  water,  with  soldier-like  manners,  she  had  all  the 
qualities  necessary  to  a  party  leader.  Her  confidants,  Alex- 
ander and  Peter  Schouvalof,  Michael  Voronzof,  Razoumovski, 
Schwartz,  and  the  doctor  Lestocq,  all  urged  her  to  action. 
The  Regent  feared  her,  but  did  not  dare  to  act  on  the  advice 
of  Ostermann.  It  was  known  at  the  palace  that  after  the 
downfall  of  Biren  three  regiments  of  Guards  had  hastened  to 
swear  fealty  to  her,  believing  the  next  step  would  be  the  proc- 
lamation of  Peter  the  Great's  daughter  ;  and  that  at  Cronstadt 
the  soldiers  had  said,  "  Will  no  one  put  himself  at  our  head  in 
favor  of  Elizabeth  Petrovna  ?  "  She  accepted  the  office  of  god- 
mother to  their  children,  visited  the  Guards  in  their  barracks, 
and  invited  them  to  her  house.  When  she  passed  through  the 
streets  in  her  sledge,  the  common  grenadiers  climbed  on  the 
back  of  the  carriage  and  whispered  familiarly  in  her  ear.  The 
French  ambassador,  La  Chetardie,  had  orders  to  favor  any 
revolution  in  Russia  that  would  destroy  the  influence  of  the 
Germans,  and  break  the  alliance  with  Austria.  He  aided 
Elizabeth  with  advice  and  money,  and  hoped  to  obtain  for  her 
the  support  of  a  Swedish  diversion.  The  Swedes  had  repented 
of  their  quiescence  during  the  late  wars  with  Poland  and  Turkey, 
and  were  disposed  to  take  their  own  grievances  and  those  of 
Elizabeth  as  a  pretext  for  declaring  war  against  the  Regent. 
The  Swedish  ambassador,  Nolken,  only  stipulated  that  at  her 
accession  the  Tzarevna  should  promise  to  restore  part  of  the 
conquests  of  Peter  the  Great.  This  she  declined  to  do  ;  but 
the  Swedes,  nevertheless,  began  hostilities,  and  issued  a  mani- 
festo to  the  "  glorious  Russian  nation,"  which  they  wished  to 
deliver  from  German  ministers,  and  from  the  "heavy  oppression 
and  cruel  foreign  tyranny,"  so  as  to  enable  it  freely  to  elect  "  a 
legitimate  and  just  government."  This  diversion  precipitated 
the  crisis.  The  court  was  by  this  time  too  well  accustomed  to 
plots  for  the  conspirators  to  delay  ;  and,  besides,  the  regiments 
counted  on  by  Elizabeth  had  orders  to  proceed  to  the  frontier. 
She  had  only  the  choice  between  the  throne  and  the  convent. 
In  the  night  of  the  25th  of  October  she  went  with  three  of  her 
friends  to  the  quarters  of  the  Preobrajenski.  "My  children," 
she  said  to  them,  "you  know  whose  daughter  I  am."  "  Mother, 
we  are  ready ;  we  will  kill  them  all."  She  forbade  bloodshed, 
and  added,  "  I  swear  to  die  for  you  ;  will  you  swear  to  die  for 
me  ? "  They  all  swore.  Anne  Leopoldovna,  Prince  Antony, 
the  young  Emperor  in  his  cradle,  Munich,  Ostermann,  Loewen- 


7  o  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

wald,  and  the  Mengdens,  were  arrested  during  the  night. 
Elizabeth  was  proclaimed  absolute  Empress,  and  the  nobles  of 
the  empire  hastened  to  give  in  their  adhesion  to  the  new  revolu- 
tion. Ivan  VI.  was  confined  at  Schlusselburg ;  Anne,  with  her 
husband  and  children,  at  Kholmogory,  where  she  died  in  1746. 
A  tribunal  was  held,  and  the  Dolgoroukis  were  among  the 
judges.  Ostermann  was  condemned  to  be  broken  on  the  wheel, 
Munich  to  be  quartered,  and  the  others  to  decapitation.  The 
Empress,  however,  spared  their  lives.  Ostermann  was  exiled  to 
Berezof,  and  Munich  to  Pelim,  where  he  lived  in  the  house  he 
had  planned  for  Biren.  Many  of  the  exiles  of  the  preceding 
reign  were  recalled,  and  the  Birens  were  allowed  to  reside  ie 
laroslavl. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSTH  Jl 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ELIZABETH    PETROVNA    (174I-I762). 

Reaction  against  the  Germans :  war  with  Sweden  (1741-1743) — Succession  of 
Austria:  war  against  Frederic  II.  (17 56-1762 ) — Reforms  under  Elizabeth  : 
French  influence. 


REACTION    AGAINST    THE    GERMANS  '■    WAR   WITH     SWEDEN 

(1741-1743.) 

When  Elizabeth  had  been  crowned  at  Moscow,  she  sent  to  Hoi- 
stein  for  the  son  of  her  sister,  Anne  Petrovna,  and  of  the  Duke 
Charles  Frederic.  The  grandson  of  Peter  the  Great  embraced 
orthodoxy,  took  the  name  of  Peter  Feodorovitch,  was  proclaimed 
heir  to  the  throne,  and  in  1744  the  Empress  married  him  to  the 
Princess  Sophia  of  Anhalt-Zerbst,  afterwards  Catherine  II. 
Thus  the  power  which  had  been  diverted  to  the  Ivanian  branch 
of  the  Romanof  dynasty,  to  Anne  of  Courland  and  her  great- 
nephew  of  Brunswick,  returned  to  the  immediate  family  of  Peter 
the  Great  in  the  person  of  Elizabeth  as  Empress,  and  of  her 
nephew  of  Holstein  as  heir  to  the  throne. 

The  revolution  of  1741  meant  much  more  than  the  sub- 
stitution of  the  Petrovian  for  the  Ivanian  branch  ;  it  signified 
the  triumph  of  the  national  over  the  German  party,  the  reaction 
of  the  Russian  element  against  the  hard  tutelage  of  the  strangers, 
and  thus  it  was  understood  by  the  people.  The  orthodox  clergy, 
persecuted  by  the  heretics,  took  its  revenge  in  the  sermons  of 
Ambrose  Iouchkevitch,  Archbishop  of  Novgorod,  against  the 
"  emissaries  of  the  devil,"  and  against  "  Beelzebub  and  his 
angels."  The  poet  Lomonossof  hails  in  Elizabeth  the  Astraea 
who  "  had  brought  back  the  golden  age,"  the  Moses  who 
"had  snatched  Russia  in  one  night  from  her  Egyptian 
slavery,"  the  Noah  "  who  had  saved  her  from  the  foreign  deluge." 
Citizens  and  soldiers  rose  against  the  Germans ;  there  were  re- 
volts at  St.  Petersburg,  and  in  the  army  of  Finland,  against  the 
foreign  officers,  on  whom  the  men  wished  to  inflict  the  punish- 
ment of  Ostermann  and  Munich.  At  court,  Finch,  the  English 
ambassador,  Botta,  the  Austrian  ambassador,  Lynar,  the  Saxon 

Yol.  2  R   17 


j  2  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

ambassador,  had  compromised  themselves  under  the  preced- 
ing dynasty ;  therefore  all  the  sympathies  of  the  nation  and 
the  Tzarina  were  for  Mardefeld,  ambassador  of  Prussia,  and 
especially  for  La  Che'tardie,  whom  they  looked  on  as  one  of 
the  authors  of  the  revolution,  and  whose  hands  the  officers  of  the 
Guard  came  to  kiss,  addressing  him  as  "  their  father."  The 
Austro-Russian  alliance,  consolidated  under  Catherine  I.  and 
Anne  Ivanovna,  seemed  broken. 

This  good  understanding  between  the  courts  of  France  and 
Russia  was  imperilled  by  the  affairs  of  Sweden.  The  Cabinet  of 
Versailles  had  not  been  able  to  persuade  its  Scandinavian  ally 
into  war  except  by  hints  of  cessions  of  territory  by  the  new 
Empress.  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  could  not  re- 
nounce the  conquests  of  her  father,  which  even  Anne  Leopoldovna, 
a  foreign  princess,  had  maintained  at  the  cost  of  war.  The 
Swedes,  who  pretended  to  have  taken  up  arms  in  favor  of  Eliza- 
beth, continued  the  war  against  their  former  protegee.  This  war 
had  no  result  except  to  show  the  weakness  of  the  Sweden  of 
Charles  XII.  against  regenerate  Russia.  The  Scandinavian 
armies  proved  themselves  very  unworthy  of  their  former  reputa- 
tion. Elizabeth's  generals,  Lascy  and  Keith,  subdued  all  the 
forts  in  Finland.  At  Helsingfors  17,000  Swedes  laid  down  their 
arms  before  a  hardly  more  numerous  Russian  force.  By  the 
treaty  of  Abo,  the  Empress  acquired  South  Finland  as  far  as  the 
river  Kiiimen,  and  caused  Adolphus  Frederic,  Administrator  of 
the  Duchy  of  Holstein,  and  one  of  her  allies,  to  be  elected  Prince 
Royal  of  Sweden,  in  place  of  the  Prince  Royal  of  Denmark 

(i743)- 


SUCCESSION  OF  AUSTRIA:    WAR  AGAINST  FREDERIC  II.  (1756-1762). 

The  war  of  the  Austrian  Succession  had  broken  out  in 
Europe.  For  whom  would  Russia  declare — for  Maria  Theresa, 
or  for  France  and  her  allies  ?  Bestoujef,  disgraced  by  Biren, 
who  had  returned  to  his  post  under  the  protection  of  Lestocq, 
Vice-Chancellor,  and  later  Chancellor,  of  the  empire,  was  on  the 
side  of  Austria.  Voronzof,  Vice-Chancellor,  trimmed  between 
both  parties ;  La  Che'tardie  and  Mardefeld,  ambassadors  of 
Louis  XV.  and  Frederic  II.,  intrigued  with  Lestocq  and  the 
mother  of  Sophia  of  Anhalt  (now  become  the  Tzare'vna,  or 
Grand  Duchess  Catherine)  to  draw  Elizabeth  into  the  Franco- 
Prussian  Alliance,  and  to  overthrow  Bestoujef.  The  Chancellor 
neglected  nothing  to  destroy  his  enemies-  He  had  bis  black 
cabinet,  where  he  looked  over  the  despatches  ot  the  foreign  am* 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  73 

bassadors  ;  he  found  means  to  place  under  the  eyes  of  the 
sovereign  extracts  from  the  letters  of  La  Che'tardie  proving  that 
Lestocq  was  a  pensioner  of  France,  and  that  La  Che'tardie  had 
spoken  insultingly  of  Elizabeth  in  his  political  correspondence. 
The  French  ambassador  received  orders  to  quit  the  capital  within 
twenty-four  hours,  and  Russia  within  eight  days,  and  the  Grand 
Duchess's  mother  was  sent  back  to  Germany.  Later  Lestocq 
was  summoned  before  a  commission,  put  to  the  torture,  and 
banished  to  Ouglitch.  Bestoujef  triumphed ;  it  seemed  as  if 
Russia  was  going  to  interfere  on  behalf  of  Maria  Theresa  :  but 
in  his  turn,  Botta,  the  Austrian  ambassador,  allowed  himself  to  be 
drawn  into  an  affair  which  was  quite  as  disastrous ;  compromised 
by  the  conduct  of  the  malcontents,  he  saw  his  accomplice, 
Madame  Lapoukhine,  knouted  and  mutilated,  and  was  sent  back 
to  Austria.  Times  passed  on.  Russia,  satisfied  with  the  sort  of 
intimidation  that  she  exercised  over  all  the  European  courts,  did 
not  care  to  go  into  action.  Bestoujef  and  the  Vice-Chancellor 
Voronzof  played  with  the  various  courts,  the  one  holding  out 
hopes  to  Austria,  the  other  allowing  himself  to  be  cajoled  by 
D'Allion,  La  Chetardie's  successor. 

France,  abandoned  by  her  allies,  had  transported  the  war  into 
the  Low  Countries,  where  Maurice  de  Saxe,  the  former  Duke  of 
Courland,  gained  a  series  of  victories.  In  1746  an  Austro-Rus- 
sian  treaty  of  alliance  was  concluded  ;  England  promised  sub- 
sidies to  Elizabeth,  but  it  was  not  till  1748  that  30,000  Russians 
under  Repnine,  crossed  Germany  and  took  up  a  position  on  the 
Rhine.  They  only  served  to  hasten  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 
(1748),  and  returned  to  Russia  without  having  fired  a  shot  or 
risked  the  prestige  of  the  empire. 

D'Allion  had  been  recalled  in  1747,  and  had  no  successor  at 
St.  Petersburg.  However,  the  same  Bestoujef  who  had  caused 
La  Chetardie  to  be  expelled,  and  concluded  the  Austrian 
alliance,  had  proclaimed  as  far  back  as  1744  that  Prussia  was 
more  dangerous  than  France,  "  because  of  her  near  neighbor- 
hood and  her  late  accession  of  strength."  Elizabeth  hated 
Frederic  :  "The  King  of  Prussia,"  she  said  to  Lord  Hyndford, 
"  is  certainly  a  bad  prince,  who  has  no  fear  of  God  before  his 
eyes ;  he  turns  holy  things  into  ridicule,  he  never  goes  to  church, 
he  is  the  Nadir-Shah  of  Prussia."  He  had  no  religion,  he  had 
not  been  consecrated,  he  did  not  spare  epigrams  about  the 
Empress.  The  "  self-sufficient  neighbor "  had  shown  off  his 
importance  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  had  opposed  the  admission 
of  a  Russian  plenipotentiary  to  the  congress.  Other  things  led 
to  a  sort  of  diplomatic  rupture.  Finally,  on  the  6th — 17th  of  May, 
1756,  the  Chancellor  read  to  the  Empress  a  statement  of  foreign 


74 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


affairs.  He  reminded  her  that  the  new  growth  of  the  Prussian 
power  was  unfavorable  to  Russia,  and  pointed  out  how  Frederic 
II.,  who  had  raised  his  army  from  80,000  to  200,000  soldiers, 
who  had  deprived  Austria  of  Silesia,  who  from  the  "  great 
revenues  "  of  the  latter  province  and  the  "  millions  levied  on 
Saxonj' "  had  constituted  a  great  war  fund  for  himself,  who 
coveted  Hanover  and  Courland,  and  hoped  for  the  dismember- 
ment of  Poland,  had  consequently  become  "  the  most  dangerous 
of  neighbors."  He  concluded  by  proving  the  necessity  of  reduc- 
ing the  forces  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  of  supporting  the 
States  menaced  by  him.  This  patriotic  disgust,  this  wholesome 
mistrust  of  Bestoujef,  might  well  have  become  the  traditional 
policy  of  Russia. 

At  this  moment  it  was  still  believed  at  St.  Petersburg  that 
in  this  war,  as  in  the  last,  Prussia  would  be  the  ally  of  France, 
against  Austria  and  England.  The  reversal  of  French  policy  had 
not  been  expected.  Bestoujef  was  in  too  great  haste  to  conclude 
a  treaty  of  subsidies  with  England.  Voronzof  warned  the 
Empress  to  beware  lest  the  Russian  troops  should  be  employed 
in  favor  of  that  very  Prussia  whom  she  wished  to  fight.  The 
event  justified  his  prediction,  confounded  the  plans  and  the 
provisions  of  Bestoujef,  and  paved  the  way  for  his  fall.  When 
Prussia  allied  herself  to  England,  and  Austria  to  France,  Russia 
found  herself  indirectly  also  allied  to  the  latter  Power.  Diplo- 
matic relations  between  the  courts  were  renewed.  It  was  then 
than  the  secret  missions  of  Valcroissant,  of  the  Scotch  Douglas, 
and  the  mysterious  Chevalier  d'Eon  took  place  ;  that  L'Hopital 
became  the  French  ambassador  in  Russia,  and  that  a  private 
correspondence  was  exchanged  between  Louis  XV.  and  the 
Empress  Elizabeth. 

Frederic  was  alarmed  on  hearing  the  decision  of  Russia ;  he 
feared  nothing  so  much  as  the  invasion  of  her  "  undisciplined 
hordes."  It  was  to  secure  the  friendship  of  "  these  barbarians  " 
that  he  had  arranged  in  1744  the  marriage  of  Peter  Feodorovitch 
and  of  Sophia  of  Anhalt.  His  invasion  of  Saxony  put  the  Russian 
army  in  motion.  In  1757,  the  year  of  Rosbach,  83,000  Musco- 
vites, under  the  Generalissimo  Apraxine,  crossed  the  frontier  of 
Prussia,  occupied  the  province  of  Eastern  Prussia,  slowly  ad- 
vanced in  the  direction  of  the  Oder,  and  crushed  the  corps  of 
Lewald  at  Gross-Jagersdorff.  The  Prussian  loss  was  4600 
killed,  600  taken  prisoners,  and  29  guns.  Instead  of  following 
up  his  advantages,  Apraxine  retraced  his  steps,  and  recrossed 
the  Niemen.  The  ambassadors  of  France  and  Austria  suspected 
treachery,  and  clamored  for  his  dismissal  from  the  chief  com- 
mand.    His  papers  were  examined,  and  were  found  gravely  to 


HIS  TOR  V  OF  R  USSIA.  7  5 

compromise  the  Grand  Duchess  Catherine  and  the  Chancellor 
Bestoujef-Rioumine.  The  latter  was  exiled,  and  his  place  filled 
by  Voronzof. 

In  1758  Fermor  again  invaded  the  Prussian  states,  took 
Konigsberg,  and  bombarded  Kustrin  on  the  Oder.  Frederic 
II.  hastened  to  Silesia,  made  a  junction  with  Dohna,  and  thus 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  32,000  men,  in  presence  of  89,000 
Russians,  near  the  village  of  Zorndorff.  In  spite  of  the  stoical 
bravery  of  the  Muscovites,  and  the  defeat  of  the  Prussian  left 
wing,  their  inexperience,  the  weakness  of  their  commander,  and, 
the  superiority  of  the  cavalry  of  Zeidlitz  caused  them  to  be  beaten. 
They  lost  20,000  men,  100  cannon,  and  30  flags.  But  Frederic 
II.  had  not  yet  reached  his  aim,  as  his  enemies  were  by  no  means 
annihilated,  and  were  able  to  make  an  imposing  retreat. 

In  1759,  Soltykof,  Fermor's  successor,  returned  to  the  Oder, 
defeated  the  Prussians  at  Paltzig,  near  Zullichau,  and  made  his 
entry  into  Frankfort.  Frederic  again  came  to  the  help  of  his 
lieutenants,  and  encountered  the  Russians  near  Kiinersdorff. 
This  time  his  army  was  simply  crushed  under  the  enormous 
weight  of  the  Muscovite  masses.  He  lost  8000  men  and  172 
guns.  He  himself  escaped  with  great  difficulty  from  the  field 
of  battle,  with  forty  hussars.  Only  3000  men  remained  to  him 
of  an  army  of  48,000.  "  A  cruel  misfortune,"  he  wrote  to  Fin- 
kenstein :  "  I  shall  never  survive  it.  The  consequences  are 
worse  than  the  battle  itself.  I  no  longer  see  any  resource,  and, 
to  say  the  truth,  I  think  all  is  lost."  It  was  at  this  moment  that 
he  thought  of  suicide.  The  disaster  of  Kiinersdorff  weighed  on 
him  during  the  remainder  of  the  war.  Henceforth  he  could  only 
hold  himself  on  the  defensive,  without  daring  to  descend  into 
the  plain. 

The  allies  were  not  less  exhausted  than  Frederic.  Elizabeth 
alone  declined  to  speak  of  peace  till  she  had  "  reduced  the 
forces "  of  Frederic,  and  secured  the  annexation  of  Eastern 
Prussia.  In  1760  the  Russians  entered  Berlin  after  a  short  re- 
sistance, pillaged  the  State  coffers  and  the  arsenals,  and  de- 
stroyed the  manufactories  of  arms  and  powder.  The  following 
year  they  conquered  Pomerania,  and  Roumantsof  took  Kolberg. 
Frederic  II.  would  have  been  lost  if  this  terrible  war  had  con- 
tinued ;  he  was  saved  by  the  sudden  death  of  Elizabeth.  Still 
his  power  was  much  weakened.  The  Empress  had  left  Prussia 
less  dangerous  and  threatening  than  she  had  found  it- 


j 6  HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA. 


REFORMS   UNDER    ELIZABETH  :    FRENCH    INFLUENCE. 

The  reign  of  Elizabeth  was  marked  by  an  increase  of  orthodox 
zeal.  In  spite  of  her  dissolute  manners,  she  was  much  influenced 
by  the  priests,  though  she  still  clung  to  her  old  superstitions. 
In  1742  the  Holy  Synod  ordered  the  suppression  of  the  Armenian 
churches  in  the  two  capitals,  and  hoped  likewise  to  suppress  the 
dissenting  churches  on  the  Nevski  Prospect.  In  the  Tatar 
regions  some  of  the  mosques  were  closed,  and  the  erection  of 
new  ones  forbidden.  The  intolerance  of  the  bishops  and  mis- 
sionaries caused  the  Pagan  or  Mussulman  tribes  of  the  Mord- 
vians,  the  Tcheremisses,  the  Tchouvaches,  and  the  Mechtcheraks 
to  revolt.  The  Jews  were  expelled  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
"  the  enemies  of  Christ  our  Saviour,  and  did  much  evil  to  our 
subjects."  To  the  observation  of  the  Senate  that  she  was  ruin- 
ing commerce  and  the  empire,  Elizabeth  replied,  "  I  desire  no 
gain  from  the  foes  of  Christ."  The  fanaticism  of  the  raskolniks 
rose  by  contact  with  the  fanaticism  of  the  officials.  Fifty-three 
men  burned  themselves  at  once  near  Oustiougue,  and  172  near 
Tomsk  in  Siberia. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  morals  of  the  clergy  were  corrected, 
and  attention  paid  to  their  education.  The  monasteries  were 
enjoined  to  send  pupils  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Academy  of  Mos- 
cow, which  complained  that  at  present  its  number  consisted  of 
five.  Rebellion  and  drunkenness  were  repressed  by  stripes 
and  chains.  The  fair  of  the  priests  was  put  down,  and  all  popes 
who  hired  themselves  out  in  public  were  whipped.  The  laws  of 
Peter  I.  against  persons  who  walked  about  and  talked  in  church 
were  revived.  The  tobacco  pouches  of  those  who  smoked  were 
confiscated.  Inspectors  nominated  by  the  bishops  besought  the 
peasants  to  clean  their  holy  images,  whose  dirtiness  shocked 
strangers.  Catechisms  were  distributed  in  the  churches,  and  a 
new  corrected  edition  of  the  Bible  exposed  for  sale.  Theological 
studies,  when  they  were  not  absolutely  neglected,  were  still  very 
puerile.  At  the  Ecclesiastical  Academy  of  Moscow  they  dis- 
cussed whether  the  angels  think  by  analysis  or  by  synthesis,  and 
what  is  the  nature  of  the  light  of  glory  in  the  future  life. 

The  Senate  was  re-established  with  the  functions  given  it  by 
Peter  the  Great,  of  which  it  had  been  deprived  by  the  High 
Council  of  Catherine  I.,  or  the  Cabinet  of  Anne  Ivanovna.  Trade 
was  encouraged.  Tchins,  or  ranks  of  assessors,  of  secretaries 
of  colleges,  and  of  councillors  of  State,  were  distributed  to  man- 
ufacturers of  cloth,  linen,  silk,  and  cotton.  In  1753  the  custom- 
houses of  the  interior  were  suppressed,  as  well  as   many  toll- 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  7  7 

duties.  Agricultural  banks  were  founded  where  they  lent  to 
landholders  at  6  per  cent.  ;  whilst  private  individuals  raised 
usurious  interest  to  15  or  even  20  per  cent.  Sons  of  merchants 
were  sent  to  study  trade  and  book-keeping  in  Holland.  New 
mines  were  discovered,  and  the  commerce  with  the  far  East 
increased  rapidly.  Siberia  began  to  be  peopled.  Attempts  were 
made  to  colonize  Southern  Russia,  now  freed  from  the  prospect 
of  Tatar  incursions,  with  Slavs  who  had  fled  from  the  Turkish 
or  Tatar  provinces.  On  the  territory  acquired  by  Anne  Ivan- 
ovna,  between  the  Bug  and  the  Oder,  the  agricultural  and 
military  colony  of  New  Servia  was  founded,  which  furnished 
four  regiments  of  light  cavalry. 

Legislation  was  less  severe.  Elizabeth  imagined  that  she 
had  abolished  the  penalty  of  death,  but  the  knout  of  her  execu- 
tioners killed  as  well  as  the  axe.  Those  who  survived  flagella- 
tion were  sent,  with  their  nose  or  ears  cut,  to  the  public  works. 
Torture  was  only  employed  in  the  gravest  cases.  If  the  civil 
code  did  not  advance,  a  code  of  procedure  and  a  code  of  criminal 
investigation  were  completed.  The  police  had  hard  work  to 
maintain  even  a  show  of  order  in  this  rude  society.  Moscow 
and  St.  Petersburg  were  like  woods  of  ill-fame.  Thieves  had 
lost  none  of  their  audacity,  and  one  of  them,  Vanka  Kaine,  the 
Russian  Cartouche,  is  the  hero  of  a  whole  cycle  of  songs.  Edicts 
were  required  to  prevent  the  keeping  of  bears  in  both  capitals, 
and  to  hinder  them  from  being  allowed  to  roam  at  night  through 
the  towns  of  the  provinces.  Public  baths  common  to  both  men 
and  women  were  forbidden  in  the  large  towns.  The  government 
was  powerless  to  stop  brigandage  on  the  great  highways ;  pirates 
captured  ships  on  the  Volga,  and  armed  bands  gave  battle  to 
regular  troops. 

The  real  minister  of  literature  and  the  fine  arts,  under  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth  was  her  young  favorite,  Count  Ivan  Schouvalof, 
He  founded,  in  the  centre  of  the  empire,  the  University  of  Moscow, 
whose  small  beginnings  have  excited  the  contempt  of  German 
historians,  but  of  which  Nicholas  Tourguenief  has  been  able  to 
say,  that  "  never  in  any  country  has  any  institution  been  more 
useful  and  more  fruitful  in  good  results;  even  to-day  (1844)  it 
is  rare  to  find  a  man  who  writes  his  own  language  correctly, 
a  well-educated  and  enlightened  official,  an  upright  and  .firm 
magistrate,  who  has  not  been  at  the  University  of  Moscow." 
Schouvalof  desired  that  every  student,  whatever  his  origin, 
should  carry  a  sword,  and  bear  the  rank  of  the  tenth  degree  of 
the  Tchin ;  doctors  were  given  the  eighth  degree.  Ten  profes- 
sors taught  the  three  branches  of  jurisprudence,  medicine,  and 
philosophy.     He  likewise  wished  to  open  two  Universities  at  St- 


1 8  &?S  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS/A. 

Petersburg  and  at  Batourine,  and  gymnasia  and  schools  in  all 
the  governments  ;  he  established  schools  on  the  military  frontier 
of  the  south,  and  one  at  Orenburg  for  the  children  of  the  exiles. 
He  sent  young  men  abroad  to  finish  their  studies  in  medicine- 
He  was  the  creator  of  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, over  which  he  set  French  masters.  The  painter  Lorraine, 
the  sculptor  Gilet,  the  architect  Valois  and  later  DeVely  and 
Lagrende,  were  among  them. 

St.  Petersburg,  which  as  yet  contained  only  74,000  inhabi- 
tants, began  to  look  like  a  capital.  The  Italian  Rastielli  built 
the  Winter  Palace,  the  monastery  of  Smolna,  which  became 
under  Catherine  II.  an  institution  for  the  daughters  of  the  ar- 
istocracy, and  the  Palace  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  traced 
the  plan  of  Tzarskoe-Selo,  the  Russian  Versailles. 

Under  the  presidency  of  Cyril  Razoumovski.  son  of  a  former 
favorite  of  Elizabeth,  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  which  had  been 
founded  by  Peter  the  Great  and  Catherine  I.,  began  to  make 
itself  known.  In  spite  of  the  interminable  contests  excited  bv 
Lomonossof  between  its  German  and  Russian  professors,  it 
continued  to  publish  both  books  and  translations. 

The  Academicians  Bauer  and  Miller  devoted  themselves  to 
the  origin  of  Russia.  Tatichtchef,  formerly  governor  of  Astra- 
khan, wrote  the  first  history  of  the  monarchy.  Lomonossof, 
Professor  of  Physic,  made  himself  the  Vaugelas  and  the  Malherbe 
of  his  countrv.  The  son  of  a  fisher  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Arkhangel,  he  had  the  colossal  frame  of  the  ancient  bogatyrs, 
and  certain  vices  of  the  people.  He  was  sent  abroad  to  complete 
his  studies,  and  there  became  the  hero  of  a  hundred  adventures. 
He  married  the  daughter  of  a  Magdeburg  tailor,  was  kidnapped 
for  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  imprisoned.  Even  in  Russia  his 
drunkenness  and  turbulence  would  have  drawn  him  inte  many 
scrapes,  but  for  the  intervention  of  his  protectors.  He  published 
a  grammar,  a  book  of  rhetoric  and  poetics,  and  labored  to  free 
the  modern  Russian  language  from  the  Slavonic  of  the  Church. 
His  "  panegyrics  "  of  Peter  and  Elizabeth,  and,  above  all,  his 
Odes,  are  the  master-pieces  of  the  time.  Soumarokof  wrote 
dreams,  comedies  and  satires  and  published  the  first  Russian 
review,  '  The  Busy  Bee.'  Kniajnine  was  very  successful  in 
comedy,  though  his  tragedies  were  poor.  Prince  Kantemir,  son 
of  the  Hospodar  of  Moldavia,  ambassador  at  Paris  and  London, 
published  letters  and  satires.  Trediakovski,  author  of  the 
tragedy  of  '  Deidamia  '  and  of  another  inferior  epopee,  called  the 
'Telemachid,'  imitated  from  Fenelon,  is  chiefly  known  as  a 
reformer  of  the  language,  and  an  indefatigable  translator.  He 
translated   all   Rollin's  '  Ancient  History,'  Boileau's  'Art  Po& 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  79 

tique,'  the  libretti  of  Italian  operas,  and  works  of  science  and 
politics.  His  biography  proves  the  small  estimation  in  which  a 
poet  was  then  held.  Anne  Ivanovna  had  employed  him  to  make 
rhymes  for  her  masquerades,  and  we  have  seen  how  brutally  he 
was  treated  by  Volynski.  He  did  not  know  how  to  make  him- 
self respected  like  a  Kantemir  or  a  Lomonossof. 

Elizabeth,  like  Anne  Ivanovna,  loved  the  theatre.  The  Ital- 
ian company  of  Locatelli  acted  ballets  and  ope'ras-bonffes. 
Serigny,  director  of  a  French  theatre,  made  25,000  roubles  a 
year.  The  Empress  furnished  spectators,  willing  or  reluctant, 
sending  lackeys  to  beat  up  the  laggards,  and  imposing  a  fine  of 
fifty  roubles  on  all  who  would  not  come.  The  Russian  theatre 
had  begun  to  exist.  Soumarokof  led  his  actors,  who  were  mem- 
bers of  the  corps  of  cadets,  into  the  apartments  of  the  Empress. 
At  Iaroslavl,  Volkof,  the  son  of  a  merchant,  and  a  protege1 'of  the 
voievode  Moussine-Pouchkine,  was  at  once  author,  actor,  man- 
ager, decorator,  and  scene-painter,  to  a  company  whom  the  Em- 
press summoned  to  St.  Petersburg.  Soumarokof  afterwards  be- 
came the  manager,  and  wrote  twenty-six  pieces  for  them,  among 
which  were  '  Khorev,'  'Sineous  and  Trouvor,'  '  Dmitri  the  Im- 
postor,' and  some  translations  of  Shakespeare  and  of  French 
pieces. 

The  characteristic  feature  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  is  the 
establishment  of  direct  relations  with  France,  which  had  been, 
since  the  17th  century,  the  highest  representative  of  European 
civilization.  Up  to  this  time  French  civilization  had  been  only 
known  at  second  hand  in  Russia.  The  people  were  Dutch 
under  Peter  I.,  German  under  Anne  Ivanovna.  The  Russians 
had  made  themselves  the  pupils  of  those  who  were  them- 
selves but  pupils  of  the  French.  Now  the  barriers  were 
thrown  down.  French  savants  were  members  of  the  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  French  artists  of  the  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts.  The  French  representations  of  Serigny  were  thronged, 
and  Soumarokof  caused  translations  from  French  works  to  be 
put  on  the  stage.  The  writings  of  Vauban  on  Fortifications,  and 
of  Saint  Re'my  on  Artillery,  were  translated,  and  the  Russians 
learned  to  know  Corneille,  Racine,  and  Moliere.  The  favorite 
Ivan  Schouvalof  had  his  furniture  brought  from  France,  his 
dresses  from  Paris,  loved  everything  French,  and  caused  Eliza- 
beth, once  betrothed  to  Louis  XV.,  to  share  his  tastes.  La 
Che'tardie  and  L'Hopital  made  the  manners  of  Versailles  fash- 
ionable. The  Russians  perceived  they  had  more  affinity  with 
the  French  than  with  the  Germans.  Trediakovski  and  Cyril 
Razoumovski  went  to  perfect  themselves  in  Paris,  where  the 
Russian  students  were  sufficiently  numerous  to  have  a  chapel  of 


go  HIS  TOR  V  OF  R  USSIA. 

their  own,  undei  the  protection  of  the  ambassador.  A  Voronzof 
entered  the  service  of  Louis  XV.,  and  in  the  uniform  of  the  light 
cavalry  stood  on  guard  in  the  galleries  of  Versailles.  The  Am- 
bassador Kantemir  was  a  friend  of  Montesquieu.  A  generation 
French  in  ideas  and  culture  grew  up  at  the  court  of  Elizabeth. 
Catherine  II.,  Princess  Dachkof,  and  the  Voronzofs  wrote 
French  as  easily  as  their  own  language.  In  1746,  De  l'lsle  com- 
municated to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  the  wish  expressed  by 
Voltaire  to  become  a  corresponding  member.  The  following 
year,  by  means  of  D'AUion  and  Cyril  Razoumovski,  Voltaire 
entered  into  relations  with  Schouvalof,  who  furnished  him  with 
documents  as  well  as  with  advice  and  criticism  for  his  '  History 
of  Russia  under  Peter  the  Great.' 

In  her  internal  policy,  then,  Elizabeth  continued  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  great  Emperor.  She  developed  the  material  pros- 
perity of  the  country,  reformed  the  legislation,  and  created  new 
centres  of  population  ;  she  gave  an  energetic  impulse  to  science 
and  the  national  literature ;  she  prepared  the  way  for  the  al- 
liance of  France  and  Russia,  emancipated  from  the  German 
yoke  ;  while  in  foreign  affairs  she  put  a  stop  to  the  threatening 
advance  of  Prussia,  vanquished  and  reduced  to  despair  the  first 
general  of  the  age,  and  concluded  the  first  Franco-Russian  al- 
liance against  the  military  monarchy  of  the  Hohenzollerns. 
Better  appreciated  by  the  light  of  later  discoveries,  Elizabeth 
will  hold  an  honorable  place  in  history,  even  between  Peter  the 
Great  and  Catherine  II 


UlSTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  8 1 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PETER    III.    AND   THE    REVOLUTION   OF    1 762, 

Government  of  Peter  III.  and  the  alliance  with  Frederic  II.— Revolution  at 

1762 :   Catherine  II. 


GOVERNMENT   OF    PETER    III.  !    ALLIANCE   WITH    FREDERIC    II. 

The  successor  of  Elizabeth  was  her  nephew,  the  grandson  of 
Peter  the  Great,  son  of  Anne  Petrovna  and  of  Charles  Frederic, 
Duke  of  Holstein-Goltorp,  then  thirty-four  years  of  age.  His 
accession  was  looked  forward  ro  with  feelings  of  mistrust,  be- 
cause he  affected  to  think  himself  a  stranger  in  Russia,  and  to 
act  more  as  the  Duke  of  Holstein  than  as  heir  to  the  imperial 
throne.  Without  education  and  without  training,  his  youth  had 
been  passed  in  puerile  amusements  ;  he  only  seemed  to  care  for 
minute  military  details,  occupied  himself  in  drilling  his  battalion 
of  Holsteiners — known  by  the  name  of  "  long  suffering  " — and 
showed  himself  the  fanatical  admirer  of  Frederic  II.  and  of  the 
Prussian  tactics.  His  aunt  suspected  him  of  communicating  to 
the  King  the  secret  deliberations  of  the  government,  and  thought 
herself  obliged  to  exclude  him  from  conferences  which  were 
concerned  with  affairs  of  war  and  administration. 

The  first  measures  of  Peter  III.  caused,  however,  a  delight- 
ful surprise.  In  February,  1762,  he  published  a  manifesto  which 
freed  the  nobility  from  the  obligation  imposed  on  them  by  Peter 
the  Great,  of  consecrating  themselves  to  the  service  of  the  State. 
He  reminded  them  that  this  law  of  his  grandfather  had  produced 
most  salutary  effects,  by  forcing  the  nobles  to  educate  them- 
selves and  interest  themselves  in  the  public  welfare,  by  giving 
birth  to  an  enlightened  generation,  and  by  furnishing  the  State 
with  distinguished  generals  and  administrators.  But  now  that 
the  love  of  the  sovereign  and  zeal  for  his  service  was  spread 
abroad,  he  no  longer  thought  it  necessary  to  maintain  the  law. 
The  Russian  nobles,  overcome  with  gratitude,  thought  of  raising 
a  statue  of  gold  to  him.     Peter  III.  answered  that  the  most 


82  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 

beautiful  monuments  were  those  possessed  by  a  sovereign  in  the 
memory  of  his  people.  Another  reform  was  the  abolition  of  the 
Secret  Court  of  Police, — "  an  abominable  tribunal,"  writes  the 
English  ambassador,  "  as  bad,  and  in  some  respects  worse  than 
the  Spanish  Inquisition."  Peter  III.  respected  the  raskolniks; 
they  had  been  so  cruelly  persecuted  during  the  preceding  reign 
that  their  number  had  fallen  from  forty  thousand  to  five  thousand 
in  the  government  of  Novgorod  alone  ;  and  thousands  of  these 
unhappy  creatures  had  fled  to  the  deserts,  or  emigrated  into  the 
neighboring  countries.  He  commanded  that  they  should  be 
brought  back  to  Russia,  offering  them  at  the  same  time  lands  in 
Siberia ;  "  for,"  says  the  oukaze,  "  the  Mahometans  and  even 
idolaters  are  tolerated  in  the  empire.  Now,  the  raskolniks  are 
Christians."  He  took  up  his  grandfather's  project  of  the  re- 
sumption of  conventual  property,  allowing  the  monks  a  pension 
in  its  stead.  He  even  thought  of  the  peasants,  on  whom  the 
modern  State  founded  by  Peter  the  Great  weighed  so  heavily, 
and  proclaimed  a  pardon  to  those  who,  misled  by  false 
intelligence,  thought  they  were  able  to  rise  against  their  masters. 
The  greater  part  of  these  acts  were  inspired  by  his  Secretary  of 
State,  Volkof.  The  culprits  of  the  last  reign — the  Mengdens, 
Madame  Lapoukhine,  old  Marshal  Munich  and  his  son,  Lestocq, 
the  Duke  of  Courland,  and  all  the  Birens — were  recalled. 

Unhappily,  the  Emperor's  personal  conduct  almost  neutralized 
any  wisdom  in  his  laws.  Not  only  did  he  plunder  the  clergy, 
but  he  did  not  hide  his  contempt  for  the  national  religion,  which 
he  had  been  forced  to  embrace  instead  of  Lutheranism.  The 
people  were  scandalized  by  his  attitude  in  the  funeral  chamber 
where  the  corpse  of  his  aunt  was  exposed.  "  He  was  seen," 
says  Princess  Dachkof,  "  whispering  and  laughing  with  the  ladies- 
in-waiting,  turning  the  priests  into  ridicule,  picking  quarrels  with 
the  officers,  or  even  with  the  sentinels,  about  the  way  their  crav- 
ats were  folded,  the  length  of  their  curls,  or  the  cut  of  their 
uniforms."  The  reforms  that  he  introduced  into  the  dress  and 
drill,  so  as  to  assimilate  them  to  those  of  Prussia,  irritated  the 
army ;  the  Guards  were  jealous  of  the  favor  shown  the  battal- 
ions of  Holstein,  which  he  wished  to  raise  to  18,000  men,  and 
proposed  as  models  for  the  national  troops.  The  suppression  of 
the  body-guard  of  Grenadiers,  formed  by  Elizabeth  in  1741, 
announced  to  the  regiments  of  Preobrajenski,  Semenovski,  and 
Ismailovski  the  lot  that  awaited  them.  The  Emperor  had  already 
observed  that  "  the  Guards  were  dangerous,  and  held  the  palace 
in  a  state  of  siege." 

The  court  was  discontented  with  the  foolish  innovations  he 
introduced  into  etiquette,  obliging  the  ladies  to  curtsey  in  the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  83 

German  fashion.  He  seemed  to  have  taken  an  aversion  to  all 
the  tastes  of  his  aunt ;  and  one  of  his  first  cares  had  been  to 
dismiss  the  French  company  of  actors.  The  manners  of  the 
upper  classes  had  become  sufficiently  refined  to  look  upon  Peter's 
gross  habits  with  disgust.  "  The  life  led  by  the  Emperor," 
writes  the  French  ambassador,  De  Breteuil,  "is  shameful.  He 
smokes  and  drinks  beer  for  hours  together,  and  only  ceases  from 
these  amusements  at  five  or  six  in  the  morning,  when  he  is  dead 
drunk.  .  .  .  He  has  redoubled  his  attentions  towards  Made- 
moiselle Voronzof.  One  must  allow  that  it  is  a  strange  taste ; 
she  has  no  wit ;  and  as  to  her  face,  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  any- 
thing uglier :  she  resembles  in  every  way  a  servant  at  a  low  inn." 
The  foreign  policy  of  Peter  III.  only  widened  the  breach 
between  himself  and  his  subjects.  Frederic  II.  was  almost 
reduced  to  extremity  by  the  battle  of  Kiinersdorff;  the  slow 
movements  of  Boutourline  in  the  campaign  of  1761  had  indeed 
procured  him  a  little  respite,  but  if  the  war  with  Russia  was  pro- 
longed, he  was  ruined.  We  may  imagine  with  what  joy  and  hope 
he  hailed  the  accession  of  Peter  III.  He  addressed  his  congrat- 
ulations to  the  new  Emperor  through  the  English  ambassador 
in  Russia,  and  the  friendship  between  the  great  king  and  his 
admirer  was  soon  renewed.  Tchernichef  received  orders  to 
detach  himself  from  the  Austrians  in  Silesia,  and  the  King  of 
Prussia  sent  Goltz  to  make  proposals  of  peace  to  the  Tzar.  He 
authorized  his  envoy  even  to  cede  Eastern  Prussia  if  it  was 
exacted  by  Peter,  merely  reserving  to  himself  an  indemnity. 
On  his  arrival  Goltz  found  a  prince  who  swore  only  by  Frederic 
II.,  wore  his  portrait  in  a  ring,  and  remembered  all  that  he  had 
suffered  for  him  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  when  he  had  been 
dismissed  from  the  "  Conference."  There  was  no  longer  any 
question  of  annexing  Eastern  Prussia,  as  the  late  Tzarina  had 
so  ardently  wished  ;  Peter  III.  restored  to  his  "  old  friend  "  all 
the  Russian  conquests,  and  formed  an  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance  with  him.  The  two  princes  promised  each  other  help 
to  the  amount  of  12,000  infantry  and  8000  horses,  and  the  Prus- 
sians, who  had  till  that  moment  been  fighting  the  Russians,  now 
joined  them  against  Austria.  Frederic  guaranteed  to  the  Em- 
peror his  States  of  Holstein,  and  confirmed  the  uncle  of  Peter 
in  the  duchy  of  Courland,  undertaking  to  come  to  an  understand- 
ing with  him  on  the  subject  of  Poland.  Such  a  sudden  change 
in  State  policy  had  never  before  been  seen.  Breteuil  and  Mercy- 
d'Argenteau.  the  French  and  Austrian  ambassadors,  found  them- 
selves all  at  once  in  disgrace.  The  envoy  of  Frederic  II.  was 
not  only  a  favorite,  he  was  really  the  first  minister  of  the  Em- 
peror of  Russia,  pointing  out  suspicious  characters,  banishing 


84  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

his  enemies,  accusing  Voronzof  and  the  Shouvalofs  of  French 
sympathies.  The  treaty  being  concluded,  Peter  III.,  at  a  grand 
dinner,  proposed  the  health  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  amidst  the 
thunders  of  the  guns  of  the  fortress.  He  carried  his  extrava- 
gances, by  which  he  testified  his  admiration  for  the  great  man, 
to  such  a  point  as  to  disquiet  Goltz  himself.  "  Let  us  drink  to 
the  health  of  the  king  our  master,"  he  cried  in  one  of  his  prgies ; 
"  he  has  done  me  the  honor  to  confide  to  me  one  of  his  regiments. 
I  hope  he  will  not  dismiss  me  ;  you  may  be  assured  that  if  he 
should  order  it,  I  would  make  war  on  hell  with  all  my  empire." 


REVOLUTION  OF  1 762  :  CATHERINE  II. 

The  Russians  would  have  hailed  with  pleasure  the  end  of  a 
tedious  war,  though  they  regretted  the  abandonment  of  the  con- 
quests of  Elizabeth,  but  a  new  war  succeeded  the  old  one ; 
the  empire  was  to  exhaust  herself  anew,  combating  her  allies  of 
yesterday,  and  to  fight  against  Denmark  for  the  pretensions  of 
the  house  of  Holstein.  The  hearts  of  the  people  softened  tow- 
ards the  Empress  Catherine  on  account  of  the  harsh  treatment 
she  had  received,  her  intelligence  and  obtrusive  demonstrations 
of  piety  throwing  into  relief  the  incapacity  and  extravagances  of 
her  husband.  Peter  III.  wished  to  divorce  her  and  to  marry 
Elizabeth  Voronzof ;  he  was  said  to  meditate  disinheriting  his 
son  Paul  in  favor  of  Ivan  VI. ;  once  he  gave  an  order,  which 
was  not  executed,  to  arrest  his  wife,  and  to  confine  her  in  a 
convent. 

Sophia  of  Anhalt,  now  the  Empress  Catherine,  was  not  a 
woman  to  pardon  these  threats,  nor  to  wait  till  they  were  carried 
into  effect.  As  Breteuil  remarks,  "  All  this,  joined  to  daily 
humiliations,  fermented  in  a  head  like  hers,  and  only  wanted  an 
occasion  to  break  out."     She  bided  her  time  and  acted. 

Numerous  contemporary  documents  exist  about  the  revolu- 
tion of  June  1762.  The  accounts  best  known  are  those  of  Rul- 
hiere,  of  Princess  Dachkof  in  her  Memoirs,  of  Keith  and  Bre- 
teuil in  their  despatches,  and  of  Catherine  II.  herself  in  her 
letter  to  Poniatowski.  The  order  given  to  the  Guards  to  leave 
for  Holstein  precipitated  the  revolution  of  1762,  as  a  similar 
order  precipitated  that  of  1741.  Peter  III.  had  no  idea  of  his 
danger ;  he  did  not  see  conspirators  silently  increase  and  multi- 
ply in  the  Senate,  in  the  court,  and  in  the  army.  Their  number 
was  great,  and  their  aims  often  different.  Some  wished  to  pro- 
claim Paul  I.,  under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother;  others 
desired  to  crown  Catherine  herself.     The  group  which  had  then 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA,  85 

all  the  confidence  of  the  Empress  was  composed  of  young 
officers  :  Gregory  Orlof,  her  lover,  Alexis  Orlof,  and  three  others 
of  the  same  name,  Bariatinski,  and  Passek.  The  Orlofs  were 
acquainted  with  all  the  details  of  the  affair,  and  concealed  it 
with  care  from  the  other  conspirators,  among  them  the  Princess 
Dachkof,  whom  they  considered  wanting  in  discretion.  Put  on 
her  guard  by  the  arrest  of  Passek,  Catherine  resolved  to  act. 
Peter  III.  was  then  at  Oranienbaum  with  his  Holsteiners,  and 
Catherine  at  Peterhof,  between  Oranienbaum  and  St.  Peters- 
burg. She  abruptly  quitted  her  residence,  accompanied  by 
Gregory  and  Alexis  Orlof  and  two  servants.  On  her  arrival  in 
the  capital  the  three  regiments  of  Foot  Guards  rose  and  took  the 
oaths  to  her  at  the  hands  of  their  priests.  Peter's  uncle,  George 
of  Holstein,  was  arrested  by  his  own  regiment  of  Horse  Guards. 
From  Our  Lady  of  Kazan  Catherine  went  to  the  Winter  Palace, 
whence  Admiral  Talysine  was  sent  to  secure  the  allegiance  of 
Cronstadt,  and  whence  proclamations  were  issued  to  the  people 
and  the  army.  Then,  at  the  head  of  nearly  20,000  men,  be- 
sides artillery,  she  marched  on  Oranienbaum. 

Peter  III.,  suddenly  aroused  from  his  tranquil  repose,  em- 
barked for  Cronstadt  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  garrison. 
"  I  am  the  Emperor,"  he  cried  to  Talysine.  "  There  is  no  lon- 
ger any  Emperor,"  replied  the  admiral,  and,  menaced  by  the 
artillery  of  the  fortress,  Peter  had  to  return  to  his  residence. 
There  in  spite  of  the  counsels  of  the  warlike  old  Munich  and 
the  presence  of  his  1500  Holsteiners,  he  quietly  abdicated, — 
"  like  a  child  being  sent  to  sleep,"  as  Frederic  II.  remarked. 
He  visited  his  wife  with  his  mistress  and  his  most  intimate 
friends  :  "  after  which,"  relates  the  Empress,  "  I  sent  the  de- 
posed Emperor,  under  the  command  of  Alexis  Orlof,  accom- 
panied by  four  officers  and  a  detachment  of  gentle  and  reason- 
able men,  to  a  place  named  Ropcha,  fifteen  miles  from  Peterhof, 
a  secluded  spot,  but  very  pleasant."  Here  he  died  in  four  days, 
of  a  "  hemorrhoidal  colic,"  his  wife  assures  us,  which  was  com- 
plicated by  "  flying  to  the  brain."  This  was  the  version  offi- 
cially adopted.  The  English  ambassador  relates  that  he  re- 
ceived the  following  note  from  the  Russian  Cabinet : — "  The 
imperial  minister  of  Russia  thinks  it  his  duty  to  inform  the  for- 
eign ministers  that  the  late  Emperor  having  been  taken  ill  with 
a  violent  colic,  to  which  he  was  subject,  died  yesterday." 

The  unhappy  son  of  Anne  Leopoldovna  and  of-  Antony,  the 
great  grandson  of  the  Tzar  Ivan  V.,  the  Emperor  imprisoned 
since  his  childhood  by  Elizabeth  and  confined  at  Schlussel- 
burg,  had  been  brought  by  Peter  III.  to  St.  Petersburg.  He 
was    now    twenty-one    years  old,    and    had  lost    his    reason. 


86  MS  TOR  Y  OF  K  USSIA. 

Catherine  II.  imprisoned  him  anew  at  Schliisselburg.  He  was 
no  dangerous  character,  but  merely  a  name.  A  memorandum 
of  the  Empress  on  the  subject  still  exists.  "  It  is  my  opinion 
that  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  escape,  so  as  to  place  him  be- 
yond the  power  of  doing  harm.  It  would  be  best  to  tonsure 
him,  and  to  transfer  him  to  some  monastery,  neither  too  near 
nor  too  far  off;  it  will  suffice  if  it  does  not  become  a  shrine." 

Revolutions  are  almost  invariably  followed  by  revolts.  The 
frequency  of  these  military  coups  de  main  encouraged  audacious 
spirits  ;  but  two  years  after  Catherine's  usurpation,  Mirovitch, 
lieutenant  of  the  Guards,  conceived  the  project  of  delivering 
Ivan  VI.  His  warders  seeing  no  other  means  of  preventing  his 
escape,  put  him  to  death  at  the  moment  that  Mirovitch  entered 
his  chamber,  and  the  conspirator  found  nothing  but  his  corpse. 
He  was  himself  arrested  and  condemned  to  death.  The  day  of 
the  execution,  the  people,  who  during  the  twenty  years'  reign  of 
Elizabeth  had  seen  no  one  beheaded,  uttered  such  a  cry  and 
were  seized  with  such  emotion,  that  when  the  executioner  held 
up  the  head  of  Mirovitch  the  bridge  over  the  Neva  almost  gave 
way  under  the  pressure  of  the  crowd,  and  the  balustrades  broke. 
Catherine  had  now  no  rival  for  the  throne  of  Russia,  except  her 
own  son. 

"  I  know,"  writes  Voltaire  some  years  later,  speaking  of 
Catherine — "  I  know  that  she  is  reproached  with  some  trifles 
about  her  husband,  but  these  are  family  affairs  with  which  I  do 
not  meddle.  And,  after  all,  it  is  often  as  well  to  have  a  fault  to 
repair ;  it  obliges  people  to  make  greater  efforts  to  wrest  esteem 
and  admiration  from  the  public."  We  shall  see  what  efforts 
were  used  by  Catherine  II.  to  force  the  Russians  to  forget  thf 
means  by  which  she  had  mounted  the  throna. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA,  &j 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CATHERINE  II.  :    EARLY  YEARS  (1762-1780), 

E'.ul  of  the  Seven  Years'  War:  intervention  in  Poland — First  Turkish  war  X 
first  partition  of  Poland  (1772)  :  Swedish  Revolution  of  1772 — Plague  at 
Moscow — Pougatchef. 


END  OF  THE  SEVEN    YEARS'  WAR  ;    INTERVENTION  IN  POLAND. 

In  the  first  moments  that  followed  her  triumph,  Catherine 
II.  had  published  a  manifesto  in  which  Frederic  was  treated 
"  as  perturber  of  the  public  peace,"  and  "  perfidious  enemy  of  Rus- 
sia." She  soon,  however,  altered  her  sentiments.  This  prin- 
cess, who  had  punished  Peter  III,  for  his  alliance  with  Prussia 
and  his  designs  upon  the  Church  property,  was  herself  destined 
to  realize,  both  in  her  foreign  and  domestic  policy,  the  plans  of 
her  husband.  Tchernichef  had  received  the  order  to  detach 
himself  from  the  Prussians,  as  he  had  formerly  received  the 
order  to  detach  himself  from  the  Austrians.  Frederic  managed 
to  retard  the  departure  of  the  general  for  three  days,  and 
Tchernichef  consented  to  occupy  with  grounded  arms  a  position 
which  covered  the  Prussian  army.  Frederic  profited  by  this  to 
defeat  Daun  at  Burkersdorff  and  Leutmannsdorff,  The  final 
withdrawal  of  Russia  from  the  Seven  Years'  War  hastened  the 
conclusion  of  peace.  During  all  the  early  part  of  her  reign,  the 
policy  of  Catherine  II.  consisted  in  what  is  known  as  the 
"  system  of  the  North"  ;  that  is,  a  close  alliance  with  Prussia, 
England,  and  Denmark,  against  the  two  great  Powers  of  the 
South,  the  house  of  Bourbon  and  the  house  of  Austria.  The 
diplomatic  struggle  with  France  especially  was  very  lively  in  the 
secondary  courts  ;  that  is  to  say,  at  Warsaw,  at  Stockholm,  and 
at  Constantinople. 

The  duchy  of  Courland,  legally  a  dependency  of  the  Polish 
crown,  but  in  reality  annexed  to  the  Russian  empire,  found  it- 
self at  that  time  without  a  sovereign.  Anne  Leopoldovna  had 
exiled  the  Duke  Biren  ;  Peter  III.  had  destined  the  crown  to 
George  of  Holstein  j  Augustus  III.  had  coveted  it  for  his  son 


88  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Charles  of  Saxony  ;  Catherine  put  an  end  to  the  competition 
by  establishing  Biren.  It  was  a  union  in  disguise  of  Courland 
and  the  empire. 

A  more  important  event  soon  absorbed  all  her  attention  : 
this  was  the  approaching  death  of  the  King  of  Poland,  and  the 
consequent  opening  of  the  whole  question  of  succession.  Two 
parties  then  disputed  the  power  at  Warsaw ;  the  court  party, 
with  the  minister  Briihl  and  his  son-in-law  Mniszek,  and  the 
party  supported  by  Russia,  headed  by  the  Czartoriski.  The 
former  wished  to  secure  the  succession  for  the  Prince  of 
Saxony,  which  was  also  the  policy  of  France  and  Austria ;  the 
latter  intended  to  elect  a  piast,  that  is,  a  native  noble  of  their 
own  party,  and  their  choice  had  fallen  on  Stanislas  Poniatowski, 
a  nephew  of  Czartoriski.  Thus  France,  which  in  1733  had 
made  war  for  a  piast  against  the  Saxon  candidate,  now  sup- 
ported the  Saxon  candidate  against  Poniatowski.  Circumstan- 
ces had  changed,  and  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  becoming  every 
day  more  feeble,  could  only  be  sustained  at  all  by  the  forces  of 
a  German  state,  Saxony.  Now  Frederic  II.  feared  an  increase 
of  power  for  Saxony  quite  as  much  as  for  Poland  ;  Saxony  was 
the  old  rival  of  Prussia  in  the  empire,  as  Poland  had  been  in  the 
country  o^  the  Vistula.  Russia,  on  her  side,  which,  by  fighting 
Stanislas  Leszczinski,  had  fought  the  father-in-law  of  Louis  XV., 
now  fought  for  the  Saxon,  the  client  of  France  and  Austria, 
Further,  she  had  no  intention  that  a  Polish  noble  should  be* 
come  too  powerful,  and  meant  to  get  rid  of  the  Czartoriskis.  The 
candidature  of  Stanislas  Poniatowski,  a  man  without  any  per- 
sonal power,  therefore  satisfied  both  the  desires  of  Frederic  II., 
the  interests  of  the  Russian  empire,  and  the  sentiments  of 
Catherine,  happy  to  be  able  to  crown  one  of  her  early  lovers. 
When  Augustus  III.  really  died,  the  country  was  violently  agi- 
tated by  the  diets  of  convocation  and  election.  Power  was 
fiercely  disputed  by  the  two  parties.  The  Czartoriskis  called  in 
the  Russian  arms  to  put  down  their  enemies,  and  under  the  pro- 
tection of  foreign  bayonets  Poniatowski  inaugurated  his  fatal 
reign,  in  which  Poland  was  thrice  dismembered,  and  erased  from 
the  list  of  the  nations. 

Three  principal  causes  led  to  the  ruin  of  the  ancient  royal 
republic  ;  1.  The  national  movement  of  Russia  which  tended  to 
complete  itself  on  the  Western  side,  and  to  "  recover,"  to  use 
the  expression  of  her  historians,  the  provinces  which  had 
formed  part  of  the  territory  of  St.  Vladimir;  that  is  White 
Russia,  Black  Russia,  and  Little  Russia.  The  national  question 
was  complicated  by  the  same  religious  question  which  had  led, 
under  Alexis  Mikhailovitch,  to  a  first  dismemberment  of  thrt 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  C/SS/A.  89 

Polish  State.  The  complaints  of  the  agitations  of  the  Uniates 
had  multiplied  in  Lithuania,  and  Russia  had  often  tried  to  in- 
terfere diplomatically.  In  1718  and  1720  Peter  the  Great 
had  written  to  Augustus  II.  to  inform  him  of  the  ill-treat- 
ment suffered  by  his  co-religionists.  Augustus  had  published 
an  edict  which  insured  the  free  exercise  of  the  orthodox  religion, 
but  which  remained  unexecuted,  as  the  king  was  never  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  restrain  the  zeal  of  the  clergy  and  the  Jesuits, 
to  repress  the  abuses  of  power  on  the  part  of  his  officers,  and  to 
protect  the  peasants  belonging  to  the  Greek  Church  against 
their  lords.  In  1723  Peter  had  written  to  the  Pope  to  entreat 
his  interference,  threatening  reprisals  against  the  Roman  Church 
in  his  dominions.  The  Pope  declined  the  proposals  of  Peter, 
and  the  annoyances  continued. 

2.  The  second  cause  of  the  ruin  of  Poland  was  the  insatiable 
greed  of  Prussia.  Poland  possessed  Western  Prussia,  that  is, 
the  Lower  Vistula  between  Thorn  and  Dantzig,  separating 
Eastern  Prussia  from  the  rest  of  the  Brandenburg  monarchy.  It 
thus  spoilt  the  construction  of  the  latter  State  by  dividing  it  into 
two  parts.  Poland  also  occupied  the  side  of  the  country  where 
German  colonization  had  greatly  developed,  especially  in  the 
towns.  Lastly,  the  government  of  Warsaw  was  so  foolish  as  to 
annoy  the  Protestant  dissenters  in  the  same  way  as  she  did 
those  of  the  Greek  Church. 

3.  Poland  could  not  escape  the  spirit  of  reform  which  was  the 
spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Poniatowski  and  the  more  en- 
lightened Poles  were  well  aware  of  the  contrast  that  existed  be- 
tween the  national  anarchy  and  the  order  of  the  neighboring 
States.  Whilst  Prussia,  Russia,  and  Austria  tried  to  constitute 
themselves  into  modern  States,  to  build  up  the  central  Powers 
on  the  ruins  of  the  forces  of  the  Middle  Ages,  to  realize  the  re- 
forms proclaimed  by  French  philosophers  and  physiocratists, 
Poland  had  up  to  that  time,  followed  the  opposite  plan,  despoil- 
ing the  kingly  power  at  each  accession,  weakening  the  national 
strength,  persisting  in  the  traditions  of  feudalism.  In  the  midst 
of  European  monarchies  which  attained,  on  her  very  frontiers, 
the  maximum  of  their  power,  Poland  remained  a  state  of  the 
eleventh  century.  She  had  allowed  them  to  get  such  a  start, 
that  even  the  effort  to  reform  herself  hastened  her  dissolution. 

From  a  social  point  of  view  she  was  a  nation  of  agricultural 
serfs,  overlaid  by  a  numerous  class  of  small  nobility,  themselves 
subject  to  a  few  great  families,  against  whom  the  king  was  abso- 
lutely powerless.  There  was  no  middle  class  at  all,  unless  we 
give  that  name  to  some  thousands  of  Catholic  citizens  and  to  a 
million  of  Jews,  who  had  no  interest  in  maintaining  a  state  of 


9o  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

things  which  condemned  them  to  eternal  opprobrium.  Economi* 
cally,'  she  had  a  primitive  system  of  agriculture  worked  by  a  serf 
population,  little  commerce,  no  retail  trade,  no  public  finances. 
Politically,  the  country  was  only  legally  composed  of  nobles. 
The  rivalry  of  the  great  families,  the  anarchy  of  the  diets,  the 
weakness  of  the  royal  power,  the  pacta  conventa  the  liberum  veto, 
the  confederations  or  diets  under  the  shield,  the  inveterate  habit  of 
invoking  the  intervention  of  strangers,  or  of  selling  them  their 
votes,  had  extinguished  in  Poland  the  very  idea  of  law  and  a 
State.  From  a  military  point  of  view  the  Polish  soldiers  were 
merely  the  lawless  soldiers  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  she  had  only 
the  cavalry  of  her  nobility,  no  infantry,  little  artillery,  and 
scarcely  any  fortresses  on  her  frontiers,  which  were  everywhere 
exposed.  Maurice  de  Saxe  affirms,  in  his  '  Reveries,'  that  it  only 
needed  48,000  men  to  conquer  Poland.  What  could  she  do, 
divided  against  herself,  long  ago  corrupted  by  the  gold  of  her 
enemies,  enclosed  by  three  powerful  monarchies,  who  hardly 
thought  they  were  violating  her  frontiers  by  occupying  her  terri- 
tory, and  whose  ambassadors  had  more  power  in  her  diets  than 
the  king  ? 

Catherine  and  Frederic  had  come  to  an  understanding  on 
two  essential  points  :  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  the  dissenters, 
and  to  prevent  all  reform  of  the  anarchic  institution,  which  was 
giving  Poland  into  their  hands.  While  affecting  to  espouse  the 
cause  of  tolerance,  they  made  Europe  forget  that  it  was  to  be 
gained  at  the  price  of  the  independence  and  integrity  of  the 
country.  The  noisy  fanaticism  of  the  Poles  helped  them  to  con- 
ceal their  object. 

In  1765  Koninski,  the  orthodox  bishop  of  White  Russia, 
presented  a  petition  to  the  King  of  Poland  recalling  all  the  vex- 
ations to  which  the  Greek  Church  in  the  kingdom  was  subject. 
Two  hundred  churches  had  been  taken  away  from  them  and  given 
to  the  Uniates  ;  they  were  forbidden  to  rebuild  those  which  had 
fallen  into  ruin,  or  to  construct  new  ones ;  their  priests  were  ill- 
treated,  sometimes  put  to  death.  "  The  Missionary  Fathers,"  says 
the  petition,  "  are  specially  distinguished  for  their  zeal  :  seconded, 
when  they  are  engaged  on  a  mission,  by  the  secular  authority, 
they  assemble  the  Greco-Russian  people  of  all  the  neighboring 
villages,  as  if  they  were  a  flock  of  sheep,  keep  them  for  six  weeks 
together,  force  .them  to  confess  to  them,  and,  to  frighten  those 
that  resist,  raise  impaling  poles,  display  rods,  thorny  branches, 
erect  scaffolds,  separate  children  from  their  parents,  women  from 
their  husbands,  and  seek  to  astound  them  by  imaginary  miracles. 
In  cases  of  stout  resistance  men  were  beaten  with  rods,  or  with 
thorny  branches,  their  hands  were  burned,  and  they  were  kept 
in  prison  for  months  together." 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


9« 


Russia  supported  the  complaints  of  the  dissenters  before  the 
Polish  Diet,  and  Stanislas  promised  to   sustain  them.     It  was 
necessary  to  secure  to  the  people  the  free  exercise  of  their  relig 
ion,  and  to  the  orthodox    nobles  the  political  rights  of  which 
they  had  been   deprived  by  former  legislatures.     The  Diet  o* 

1766  made  a  frantic  opposition  to  this  proposal;  the  deputy 
Gourovski,  who  attempted  to  speak  in  favor  of  the  dissenter^ 
narrowly  escaped  being  put  to  death. 

Repnine,  Catherine's  ambassador,  got  the  dissenters  to 
promise  that  they  would  resort  to  the  legal  means  of  con._ 
federations.  The  orthodox  assembled  at  Sloutsk,  the  Protes- 
tants under  the  patronage  of  the  Russian  ambassador  at 
Thorn  ;  there  was  also  a  confederation  of  Catholics  at  Radom, 
enemies  of  the  Czartoriski,  and  of  those  who  feared  a  reform  of 
the  constitution,  and  the  abolition  of  the  liberum  veto.  Russia, 
which  with  Prussia  had  guaranteed  the  maintenance  of  this 
absurd  constitution,  likewise  took  them  under  her  protection. 
Eighty  thousand  Muscovites  were  ready,  at  a  sign  from  Repnine, 
to  enter  Poland.     Under   these    auspices  opened  the    Diet   of 

1767  :  the  Poles  did  not  appear  to  feel  the  insult  to  their  inde- 
pendence, and  only  exerted  themselves  to  support  the  system  of 
intolerance.  Soltyk,  bishop  of  Cracow,  Zalusski,  bishop  of  Kief, 
and  two  other  nuncios  showed  themselves  most  warm  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  project.  Repnine  had  them  removed  and  taken  to 
Russia,  and  the  Poles  had  done  so  much  evil  themselves  that 
Europe  applauded  this  violation  of  the  law  of  nations,  as  it 
seemed  to  secure  liberty  of  conscience.  The  Diet  yielded,  and 
consented  that  the  dissident  nobles  should  have  political  rights 
equal  to  those  of  the  Catholics,  but  Romanism  remained  the  re- 
ligion of  the  State,  and  that  which  the  king  must  always  profess. 
In  1768  a  treaty  was  made  between  Poland  and  Russia,  in  virtue 
of  which  the  constitution  could  never  be  modified  without  the 
consent  of  the  latter  Power.  This  was  to  legalize  foreign  inter- 
vention, and  to  condemn  Poland  to  die  of  her  abuses.  The 
Russian  troops  evacuated  Warsaw,  and  the  Confederates  sent 
deputies  to  thank  the  Empress. 

In  spite  of  this,  the  Confederation  of  Radom,  the  most  con- 
siderable of  the  three,  which  had  taken  up  arms  to  hinder  the 
reform  of  the  constitution,  and  in  no  wise  to  support  reforms 
in  favor  of  the  dissenters,  was  much  discontented  with  the 
result.  When  it  was  dissolved,  there  sprang  from  its  remains 
the  Confederation  of  Bar,  in  Podolia,  more  numerous  still,  and 
which  had  adopted  as  its  programme  not  only  the  maintenance 
of  the  liberum  veto,  but  also  that  of  the  exclusive  privileges  of 
the  Catholics.     In  Gallicia  and  Lublin  two  other  confederations 


gj  c HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

were  formed  with  the  same  objects  in  view.  The  insurgents 
took  for  their  motto,  "Pro  religione  et  libertate ;  " but  the  word 
"  liberty  "  was  heard  with  indifference  by  the  mass  of  the  peeple, 
who  only  saw  in  the  "  liberty  "  of  the  Poles  that  of  the  nobles, 
The  confederates  of  Bar  sent  deputies  to  the  courts  of  Dresden, 
Vienna,  and  Versailles,  to  interest  them  in  their  cause.  In  the 
West  opinion  might  well  be  perplexed.  On  which  side,  men 
asked,  was  the  nation  ranged  ?  Whither  did  the  forces  of  the 
future  tend  ?  Were  right  and  justice  at  Warsaw  with  the  king 
and  the  senate,  and  all  the  men  who  had  voted  for  the  enfran- 
chisement of  the  dissenters,  and  who  meditated  in  secret  the 
reform  of  the  constitution  and  the  revival  of  Poland  ?  Were 
they  at  Bar,  where  turbulent  nobles,  guided  by  fanatical  priests, 
revolted  in  the  name  of  the  liberum  veto  and  religious  intoler- 
ance ?  Voltaire  and  the  greater  part  of  the  French  philosophers 
declared  in  favor  of  King  Stanislas  ;  but  M.  de  Choiseul,  minis- 
ter of  Louis  XV.,  supported  the  Confederates.  It  did  not  strike 
him  that  by  weakening  the  authority  of  the  Polish  king  he  was 
weakening  Poland  herself.  The  Polish  government,  in  presence 
of  the  insurrection,  found  herself  forced  to  commit  a  fresh  fault. 
The  royal  army  did  not  amount  to  9000  effective  men,  and  ac- 
cording to  the  treaty  of  alliance  with  Russia,  they  appealed  to 
her  for  troops.  The  Muscovite  columns  wrested  Bar,  Berdichef, 
and  Cracow  from  the  Confederates.  The  orthodox  monks  re- 
plied by  their  sermons  to  those  of  the  Catholic  priests.  Gontai 
and  Jelieznak  called  to  arms  the  Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine,  the 
Zaporogues,  and  the  haidamaks,  or  brigands.  A  savage  war,  at 
once  national,  religious,  and  social,  desolated  the  provinces  of 
the  Dnieper;  the  land-owners  and  the  Jews  saw  the  return  of 
the  bloody  days  of  Khmelnitski.  The  massacre  ©f  Ouman,  a 
town  of  Count  Potocki's,  horrified  the  Ukraine. 

The  Confederates,  repulsed  by  the  Russian  columns,  had 
obtained  some  support  from  the  court  of  Vienna.  They  had 
established  the  council  of  the  Confederation  at  Teschen,  their 
head-quarters  at  Eperies  in  Hungary,  and  still  held  three  places 
in  Poland.  Choiseul  sent  them  money,  and  sent  also  the  Chev- 
alier de  Taules,  Dumouriez,  and  the  Baron  de  Viomesnil,  to 
organize  them.  In  the  Memoirs  of  Dumouriez,  we  find  that  the 
forces  of  the  Confederation,  scattered  through  the  whole  extent 
of  Poland,  did  not  exceed  16,000  or  17,000  horsemen,  without 
infantry,  and  divided  into  five  or  six  bands,  each  with  its  inde- 
pendent chief.  Zaremba  in  Great  Poland,  the  Cossack  Sava, 
Miaczinski,  Walevski,  and  many  others,  usually  acted  without 
combination.  Pulavski  was  the  open  enemy  of  Potocki  ; 
Dumouriez  was  beaten  at  Landskron,  with  his  undisciplined 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  93 

troops ;  but  Viomesnil,  Dussaillans,  and  Choisy,  three  French 
officers,  surprised  the  Castle  of  Cracow  (1772),  shortly  atter- 
wards  recaptured  by  Souvorof.  An  attempt  made  by  some  of 
the  Confederates,  on  the  3rd  of  November,  177 1,  to  secure  the 
person  of  the  king — whose  wounds  and  remote  residence  ren- 
dered him  an  easy  prey — excited  the  ostentatious  and  insincere 
indignation  of  the  European  courts,  and  increased  Voltaire's 
dislike  of  the  Confederates. 


FIRST  TURKISH    WAR  (1767-74)  :    FIRST   PARTITION   OF   POLAND 
(1772)  :    SWEDISH    REVOLUTION    OF    1772. 

Choiseul  imagined  that  the  best  way  of  aiding  the  Confeder- 
ates was  to  induce  the  Turks  to  declare  war  against  Russia. 
Vergennes,  the  French  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  set  to 
work  energetically  to  bring  it  to  pass  ;  but  unhappily  France 
greatly  exaggerated  the  power  of  Turkey,  and  was  ignorant  how 
far  her  strength  had  diminished  since  her  last  war  with  Austria, 
The  mistake  made  by  Choiseul  when  he  linked  the  fate  of  his 
ally  on  the  Vistula  with  the  success  of  the  Ottoman  arms  only 
rendered  the  partition  of  Poland  inevitable.  On  the  news  of  the 
violation  of  the  frontier  at  Balta,  not  by  the  Russian  troops  but 
by  the  hdidamaks,  when  pursued  by  the  former,  the  Sublime  Porte 
declared  war  on  Russia.  The  Baron  de  Tott  had  been  sent  by 
Vergennes  to  Krim-gue'rai,  Khan  of  the  Crimea,  to  persuade 
him  to  second  the  Turks.  In  the  winter  of  1768,  the  Tatars 
devastated  the  New  Servia  of  Elizabeth.  Catherine,  whose 
forces  were  occupied  in  Poland,  had  only  a  feeble  army  to 
oppose  to  the  Turco-Tatar  invasion.  "  The  Romans,"  she 
writes  to  her  generals,  "  did  not  concern  themselves  with  the 
number  of  their  enemies  ;  they  only  asked,  '  Where  are  they  ? '  " 
Galitsyne,  with  30,000  men,  was  therefore  ordered  to  check  the 
Grand  Vizier  at  the  head  of  100,000,  who  was  on  the  point  of 
entering  Podolia  to  join  the  Polish  Confederates ;  Roumantsof: 
was  to  occupy  the  Ukraine  and  watch  the  Crimean  Tatars  and 
the  Kalmucks.  Galitsyne  took  the  initiative,  defeated  the 
Grand  Vizier  on  the  Dnieper,  near  Khotin,  which  capitulated 
(1769),  and  took  up  a  position  in  Wallachia  and  Moldavia,  to 
the  great  joy  of  the  orthodox  populations  of  the  Danube.  The 
following  year,  his  successor,  Roumantsof,  defeated  the  Khan 
of  the  Tatars,  although  the  latter  had  100,000  men,  and  was 
entrenched  on  the  banks  of  the  Larga.  He  then  gained  over 
the  Grand  Vizier  in  person  the  victory  of  Kagoul,  where  17,00c 
Russians  defeated  150,000  Mussulmans  (1770).  In  1771  Prince 


94  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Dolgorouki  lorced  the  lines  of  Perekop,  ravaged  the  Crimea, 
took  Kaffa,  Kertch,  and  Ienikale,  and  put  an  end  forever  to  the 
Turkish  rule  Trilthe  peninsula.  During  this  time  the  army  of 
Wallachia  capturecl  the  fortresses  on  the  Danube,  successfully 
completed  the  conquest  of  Bessarabia  by  taking  Bender,  and 
penetrated  into  Bulgaria. 

Catherine  II.  had  prepared  a  yet  more  terrible  surprise  for 
the  Turkish  empire,  disturbed  as  it  was  by  the  revolt  of  the 
Pacha  of  Egypt.  A  Russian  fleet  left  the  Baltic  under  the 
orders  of  Alexis  Orlof,  and,  after  having  put  in  at  the  English 
ports  and  made  the  tour  of  Europe,  suddenly  appeared  on  the 
coast  of  Greece.  The  Christian  populations  of  the  Western 
Morea  and  of  Magnesia  revolted ;  Voltaire  already  announced 
the  regeneration  of  Athens  and  the  resurrection  of  Sparta ;  but 
Orlof  abandoned  the  Greeks  after  he  had  compromised  them, 
and  hastened  to  seek  the  Turkish  fleet.  With  the  help  of  his 
lieutenants  Spiridof  and  Greig,  he  defeated  it  at  the  harbor  of 
Chios,  and  totally  annihilated  it  in  the  port  of  Tchesme',  aided 
by  fire-ships  led  by  the  English  Dugdale.  At  this  news  the 
terror  of  Constantinople  exceeded  all  bounds  ;  they  pictured  the 
Russians  arriving  in  the  Bosphorus.  Alexis  Orlof  lost  his  time 
in  the  conquest  of  the  islands,  while  Baron  de  Tott  rallied  the 
courage  of  the  Sultan  and  the  Turkish  people,  drilled  the  Otto- 
man soldiers,  cast  cannon,  and  put  the  Dardanelles  in  a  state  of 
defence.  When  the  Russians  at  last  presented  themselves  at 
the  entrance  of  the  Straits,  they  were  too  late  (1770). 

Russia,  however,  had  none  the  less  conquered  Azof,  the 
Crimea,  the  shore  of  the  Black  Sea  between  the  Dnieper  and 
the  Dniester,  Bessarabia,  Wallachia,  Moldavia,  a  part  of  Bul- 
garia, and  of  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago.  She  would  will- 
ingly have  kept  her  conquests,  but  Austria  took  fright  at  her 
close  neighborhood  and  the  rupture  of  the  equilibrium  of  the 
East.  It  was  at  this  point  that  the  Turkish  and  Polish  questions 
became  involved  in  each  other  :  Poland  was  to  serve  as  the 
ransom  of  Turkey. 

Of  the  three  Northern  States,  Prussia  was  the  most  interested 
in  the  dismemberment  of  Poland  ;  she  had  a  geographical 
necessity  to  lay  hands  on  Western  Prussia,  and,  if  possible,  on 
the  cities  of  the  Vistula.  It  was  Frederic  II.  who  had  denounced 
to  Catherine  the  projects  of  the  Czartoriski  for  the  reform  of  the 
constitution,  and  brought  to  light  the  wrongs  of  the  dissenters; 
in  a  word  created  the  Polish  question.  It  was  he  who,  in  the  in- 
terviews of  Neiss  (Silesia)  and  of  Neustadt  (Moravia),  had  dis- 
quieted Joseph  II.  and  Kaunitz  on  the  subject  of  the  Russian 
ambition  in  the  East,  and  had  suggested  the  idea  of  a  partition 


r/rs  tor  y  of  r  ussia.  9$ 

of  Poland  ;  and  it  was  he  who  had  sent  his  brother  Prince  Henry 
to  St.  Petersburg,  to  gain  over  Catherine  II.  He  made  her 
clearly  comprehend  that  her  pretensions  in  the  East  would  cause 
Austria  and  France  to  side  against  her ;  that  her  ally  the  King 
of  Prussia,  weakened  by  the  Seven  Years'  War,  would  be  unable 
to  stand  a  war  against  united  Europe  ;  that  no  doubt  she  had  a 
right  to  an  equivalent  for  the  expenses  of  the  double  war,  but 
that  it  could  matter  little  to  her  whence  she  procured  this  in- 
demnity, from  the  Vistula  or  from  the  Danube  ;  that  she  could 
therefore  aggrandize  herself  at  the  expense  of  Poland,  and  that 
to  re-establish  equilibrium  in  the  North  she  must  suffer  Prussia 
and  Austria  to  aggrandize  themselves  also. 

Catherine  II.,  who  had  already  on  her  hands  the  wars  with 
Poland  and  Turkey,  could  not  dream  of  fighting  both  Austria 
and  Prussia.  Although  she  would  have  preferred  to  maintain 
the  integrity  of  Poland,  on  condition  of  holding  a  preponderat- 
ing influence  over  its  affairs,  she  was  forced  to  submit  to  the 
proposal  of  Frederic  II.  The  King  of  Prussia  knew  how  to  play 
off  Russia  and  Austria  against  each  other.  Even  now  he  was 
acting  as  master  in  Great  Poland,  taking  away  the  wheat  for  his 
own  subjects,  and  the  inhabitants  for  his  own  army.  Once  he 
occupied  Dantzig.  Austria  on  her  side,  in  vindication  of  her 
ancient  rights,  invaded  the  county  of  Zips.  The  partition  was 
almost  carried  out,  when  it  was  legalized  by  the  treaty  of  Feb. 
17,  1771,  between  Prussia  and  Russia,  accepted  by  Austria  in 
April,  and  signified  to  the  King  of  Poland  on  the  18th  of  Sep- 
tember in  that  same  year.  Russia  obtained  White  Russia  (Po- 
lotsk, Vitepsk,  Orcha,  Mohilef,  Mstislavl,  Gomel),  with  1,600,000 
inhabitants  ;  Austria  had  Western  Gallicia  and  Red  Russia,  with 
2,500,000  people  ;  while  Prussia  got  possession  of  the  long- 
coveted  Western  Prussia,  with  a  population  of  900,000  souls. 

Russia  had  still  to  treat  with  the  Porte.  After  the  rupture 
of  the  Congress  of  Fokchany  in  1772,  the  war  had  broken  out 
again.  The  Russians  had  been  forced  to  raise  the  siege  of  Silistria, 
but  they  had  surrounded  the  Grand  Vizier  in  his  camp  of  Shumla, 
and  a  single  victory  might  open  them  the  way  to  Constantinople. 
Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  consented  to  sign  the  Peace  of  Koutchouk- 
Kairnadji  (1774).  He  undertook:  1,  to  recognize  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  Tatars  of  the  Bug,  of  the  Crimea,  and  of  Kuban  ; 
2,  to  cede  Azof  on  the  Don,  Kinburn  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dni- 
ester, and  all  the  strong  places  in  the  Crimea;  3,  to  open 
the  Straits  of  the  Bosphorus  and  the  Dardanelles  to  the  mer- 
chant ships  of  Russia ;  4,  to  treat  the  Russian  merchants  in 
the  same  way  as  the  French,  who  were  then  the  most  favored 
nation  ;  5,  to  grant  an  amnesty  to  all  the  Christian  populations 

Tol.  2  K    18 


96  HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA. 

engaged  in  the  last  insurrection  ;  6,  to  allow  the  Russian  ambas- 
sador to  interfere  in  favor  of  his  subjects  in  the  Danubian  prin- 
cipalities ;  7,  to  pay  a  war  indemnity  of  4,500,000  roubles,  and 
to  recognize  the  imperial  title  of  the  Russian  sovereign.  Not 
only  did  Russia  acquire  important  territories  and  numerous 
strategical  points,  but  she  established  a  sort  of  protectorate  over 
the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Sultan,  and  prepared  the  way  for 
the  annexation  of  the  Crimea,  of  the  Kuban,  and  of  all  the 
northern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea. 

France,  indirectly  defeated  in  Poland  and  Turkey,  had  lately 
obtained  a  great  diplomatic  success  in  Sweden.  Frederic  II. 
and  Catherine  II.  had  a  tacit  understanding  to  guarantee  in  the 
latter  country  the  maintenance  of  the  oligarchic  constitution, 
which  was  practically  the  maintenance  of  anarchy.  This  was 
in  order  to  reserve  to  themselves  a  pretext  for  interference,  and 
even  to  prepare  for  a  dismemberment,  which  would  have  given 
Finland  to  Russia,  and  Swedish  Pomerania  to  Prussia  ;  the  role  of 
third  partitioner,  played  by  Austria  in  thePolish  question,  was  here 
assigned  to  Denmark.  Gustavus  III.,  who  had  grown  up  amidst 
the  clamors  and  intrigues  of  the  Diet,  had  determined  to  re- 
establish the  royal  power,  as  being  the  only  hope  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  country.  In  177 1,  while  he  was  still  prince  royal, 
he  went  to  France,  visited  the  philosophers,  frequented  the  fash- 
ionable salons, amongst  others  that  of  Madame  Geoffrin,  and  receiv- 
ed encouragement  and  promises  of  help  from  the  French  govern- 
ment. The  spectacle  of  the  anticipated  partition  of  Poland  had 
strengthened  him  in  his  patriotic  resolutions,  and  a  favorable  op- 
portunity seemed  offered  by  the  embarrassing  situation  of  both 
Russia  and  Prussia.  Recalled  to  Sweden  by  the  death  of  his 
father,  he  prepared  his  coup  d'e'tat  with  the  utmost  secrecy, 
having  previously  gained  over  the  army  and  the  nation.  On 
the  19th  of  August,  1772,  he  assembled  the  Guard,  dismissed  the 
senators,  made  the  people  of  Stockholm  rise  in  revolt,  and  im- 
posed on  the  Diet  a  constitution  of  fifty-seven  articles,  which 
guaranteed  the  public  liberties,  at  the  same  time  that  it  restored 
to  the  Crown  its  essential  prerogatives.  He  then  abolished  tor- 
ture and  the  State  inquisition,  shut  up  the  "cave  of  roses,"  a 
hole  full  of  reptiles  used  for  "  the  question,"  and  set  on  foot  use- 
ful reforms  which  placed  Sweden,  already  impregnated  with 
French  ideas,  in  the  current  of  the  18th  century.  The  success 
of  this  bloodless  revolution  which  doubled  the  real  power  of 
Sweden,  and  put  her  beyond  the  pale  of  foreign  intrigue,  caused 
great  mortification  to  Frederic  II.  and  Catherine  ;  but  the  affa»»*s. 
of  Poland  deprived  them  of  the  power  or  desire  to  interfere. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  97 

PLAGUE  AT  MOSCOW  (1771) — POUGATCHEF  (1773). 

Catherine  II.,  victorious  in  Poland  and  in  Turkey,  found 
herself  face  to  face  with  terrible  difficulties  in  her  own  empire. 
In  1 77 1  the  plague  broke  out  at  Moscow,  and  during  the  months 
of  July  and  August  the  deaths  amounted  to  a  thousand  a  day. 
The  people,  wild  with  fright,  thronged  to  the  feet  of  the  holy 
image  of  the  Mother  of  God  at  Bogolioubovo,  and  many  died  of 
suffocation  in  the  crowd.  Archbishop  Ambrose,  an  enlightened 
and  educated  man,  wished  to  remove  the  image.  This  was  the 
signal  for  a  terrible  insurrection.  "  The  archbishop  is  an  infidel," 
cried  the  people  ;  "  he  would  deprive  us  of  our  protectress  ;  he 
is  in  a  conspiracy  with  the  doctors  to  make  us  die.  It  is  not 
the  part  of  an  orthodox  nation  to  suffer  the  injustice  of  author- 
ity ;  if  he  had  not  caused  the  streets  to  be  fumigated,  the  plague 
would  have  long  ago  ceased.  To  the  Kremlin  !  to  the  Krem- 
lin !  Let  us  demand  of  Ambrose  why  he  forbids  us  to  pray  to 
the  Mother  of  God  !  "  Ambrose  was  put  to  death,  and  his  palace 
pillaged.  It  was  necessary  to  use  muskets  and  cannon  to  dis- 
perse the  crowd,  which  was  ready  to  commit  new  deeds  of  vio- 
lence. Catherine  sent  Gregory  Orlof  to  appease  the  revolt, 
and  to  reassure  the  people.  At  last  the  plague  ceased,  and 
peace  was  restored, 

The  insurrection  of  Moscow  proved  in  what  gross  darkness 
the  lower  classes  of  the  capital  (domestic  serfs,  lackeys,  small 
tradesmen,  and  working  men)  then  lived.  The  revolt  of  Pouga- 
tchef  shows  what  elements  of  disorder  had  fermented  in  the  dis- 
tant provinces  of  the  capital.  The  peasants,  on  whom  were  laid 
the  burden  of  all  the  State  expenses,  all  the  needs  of  the  proprie- 
tors, and  all  the  exactions  of  the  officials,  forever  dreamed  of 
impossible  changes.  In  their  profound  ignorance  they  were  al- 
ways ready  to  follow  any  impostors,  and  there  were  now  plenty ; 
false  Peters  III.,  Ivans  VI.,  even  a  Paul  L,  who  were  eagerly 
welcomed  by  the  debased  classes,  always  prejudiced  against 
"  the  rule  of  women."  The  raskolniks,  made  wild  and  fanatical 
by  many  persecutions,  remained  in  their  forests  or  in  the  scat- 
tered villages  of  the  Volga,  irreconcilable  enemies  of  the  second 
Roman  empire,  stained  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs.  The 
Cossacks  of  the  Ja'ik  and  the  Don,  and  the  Zaporogues  of  the 
Dnieper,  chafed  under  the  new  yoke  of  authority.  The  tribes 
of  the  Volga  (Pagan,  Mussulman,  or  Christian  in  spite  of  them- 
selves) only  awaited  a  pretext  to  recover  their  lawless  liberty,  or 
to  reclaim  the  lands  which  the  Russian  colonists  had  usurped. 

How  little  these  ungovernable  elements  accommodated  them- 
selves to  the  laws  of  a  modern  State  was  seen  when,  in  1770, 
the  Kalmuck-Torgaouts  (men,  women,  and  children),  to  the 


o8  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

V 

number  of  about  300,000,  with  their  cattle,  their  tents,  and  their 
chariots,  abandoned  their  encampments.  Ravaging  everything 
in  their  road,  they  crossed  the  Volga,  and  retired  to  the  territory 
of  the  empire  of  China.  When  we  add  to  these  malcontents  the 
vagabonds  of  all  kinds,  the  ruined  nobles,  the  disfrocked  monks, 
the  military  deserters,  fugitive  serfs,  highwaymen,  and  Volga 
pirates,  we  shall  see  that  Russia,  especially  in  her  Oriental  part, 
contained  all  the  materials  necessary  for  an  immense  Jacquerie, 
like  those  which  the  false  Dmitri  or  Stenko  Razine  had  let 
loose.  The  Ja'ik,  whose  Cossacks  had  risen  in  1766,  and  had 
been  cruelly  repressed,  was  destined  to  furnish  the  expected 
chief  to  this  servile  war.  Emilian  Pougatchef,  a  Cossack  de- 
serter and  a  raskolnik,  who  had  been  already  confined  in  the 
prison  of  Kazan,  and  had  escaped  from  Siberia,  gave  himself 
out  as  Peter  III.,  and  asserted  that  he  was  saved  under  the  very 
hands  of  the  executioner.  Displaying  the  banner  of  Holstein, 
he  proclaimed  that  he  would  march  to  St.  Petersburg  to  punish 
his  wife  and  to  crown  his  son.  He  besieged  the  small  fortress 
of  Ja'ik  with  only  300  men.  This  was  an  insignificant  affair, 
but  all  the  troops  sent  against  him  passed  over  to  his  side  and 
delivered  up  their  chiefs.  He  always  hung  the  officers,  and  cut 
the  hair  of  the  soldiers  in  the  Cossack  style.  In  the  villages 
the  nobles  were  also  hung.  All  who  resisted  him  were  punished 
as  rebels,  convicted  of  the  crime  of  h4gh  treason.  He  thus 
gained  possession  of  many  little  fortresses  on  the  Steppe. 
Whilst  his  intimate  friends  who  knew  his  origin  treated  him 
when  alone  as  a  simple  Cossack,  the  people  began  to  receive 
him  with  bells,  and  the  priests  to  present  him  bread  and  salt. 
Some  of  the  Polish  Confederates,  captives  in  those  regions.; 
organized  his  artillery.  For  almost  a  year  he  made  Kazan  and 
Orenburg  tremble,  and  defeated  all  the  generals  sent  against 
him.  Everywhere  proprietors  fled,  and  the  barbarous  tribes 
hastened  to  his  head-quarters.  The  peasants  rose  against  the 
nobles,  the  Tatars  and  Tchouvaches  against  the  Russians :  a 
war  of  race,  a  social  war,  a  servile  war,  was  let  loose  in  the  basin 
of  the  Volga.  Moscow,  with  its  100,000  serfs,  was  agitated  :  the 
lower  orders,  seeing  the  frightened  land-owners  pour  in  from 
Eastern  Russia,  began  openly  to  speak  of  liberty  and  the  exter- 
mination of  the  masters.  Catherine  II.  charged  Alexander 
Bibikof  to  check  the  progress  of  the  scourge.  Bibikof,  on  his 
arrival  at  Kazan  was  alarmed  at  the  universal  demoralization, 
but  he  rallied  his  courage,  reassured  and  armed  the  nobles,  re- 
strained the  people,  and  affected  the  greatest  confidence,  while 
he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  The  evil  is  great — it  is  frightful  !  Ah  ! 
all  will  go  ill."  He  thoroughly  comprehended  that  all  this  dis- 
order was  not  the  work  of  a  single  man.  "  Pougatchef,"  he  said, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA  9g 

"is  only  a  bugbear  worked  by  the  Cossacks;  it  is  not  Pouga- 
tchef  that  is  important,  but  the  general  discontent."  Although 
very  uncertain  of  his  own  troops,  he  attacked  the  impostor,  de- 
feated him  both  at  Tatichtcheva  and  at  Kargoula,  dispersed  his 
army  and  took  his  guns.  Bibikof  died  in  the  midst  of  his 
victories,  but  his  lieutenants,  Michelson,  de  Collonges,  and 
Galitsyne,  gave  chase  to  Pougatchef.  Tracked  to  the  Lower 
Volga,  he  suddenly  ascended  the  river,  threw  himself  into  Kazan 
which  he  pillaged  and  burned,  received  a  check  before  its 
Kremlin,  and  was  beaten  on  the  Kazanka.  Then  he  returned 
down  the  river,  boldly  entered  Saransk,  Samara,  and  Tzaritsyne, 
and,  though  closely  followed  by  his  enemies,  had  time  to  hang 
the  imperialists,  and  to  establish  new  municipalities.  During  his 
retreat  to  the  south  the  people  awaited  him  on  the  road  to 
Moscow,  and,  in  order  not  to  disappoint  them,  false  Peters  III. 
and  false  Pougatchefs  sprang  up  on  all  sides,  and  at  the  head  of 
savage  bands  put  proprietors  to  death  and  burned  castles. 
Moscow  was  nearer  revolt  than  ever.  It  was  time  that  Pougat« 
chef  was  arrested.  Shut  in  between  the  Volga  and  the  Jaik,  by 
Michelson  and  the  indefatigable  Souvorof,  he  was  pinioned  and 
surrendered  by  his  own  accomplices,  at  the  very  moment  he  in- 
tended flying  into  Persia.  He  was  brought  to  Moscow,  so  that 
the  people  might  witness  his  punishment.  Many  declined  to 
believe  in  the  death  of  the  false  Peter  III.,  and  if  the  revolt  was 
put  down  the  spirit  of  revolt  existed  some  time  longer. 

It  was  a  warning  for  Catherine  II.,  and  she  remembered  it 
when  in  1775  s^ie  extinguished  the  Zaporogue  republic.  This 
brave  tribe,  expelled  by  Peter  the  Great,  and  recalled  by  Anne 
Ivanovna,  no  longer  recognized  their  former  territory  in  the 
Ukraine.  Southern  Russia,  freed  from  Tatar  incursions,  was 
rapidly  colonized  ;  cities  rose  everywhere,  the  boundaries  of 
property  were  fixed,  and  the  vast  herbaceous  steppes,  through 
which  their  ancestors  had  roamed  as  freely  as  the  Arabs  in  the 
desert,  were  transformed  into  cultivated  fields  with  a  beautiful 
black  soil.  The  Zaporogues  were  much  discontented  with  this 
transformation ;  they  intended  to  reclaim  their  lands,  and  re- 
establish the  desert;  they  protected  the  hdidamaks,  who  ill- 
treated  the  colonists.  Potemkine,  the  creator  of  New  Russia, 
became  weary  of  these  inconvenient  neighbors.  By  order  of  the 
Empress  he  occupied  the  setcha  and  destroyed  it.  The  mal- 
contents fled  to  the  territory  of  the  Sultan  ;  the  rest  were  organ- 
ized like  the  Black  Sea  Cossacks,  and  in  1792  the  Isle  of  Phana- 
goria  and  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Azof  were  assigned 
them.  Such  was  the  end  of  the  great  Cossack  power.  It  no 
longer  existed  save  in  the  songs  of  the  kobzars. 


HOO  XISTQRV  Of  RUSSIA.. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CATHERINE  II.  :   GOVERNMENT  AND  REFORMS. 

The  helpers  of  Catherine  II. :  the  great  legislative  commission  (1766-1768)— 
Administration  and  justice:  colonization — Public  instruction — Letters  and 
arts — The  French  Philosophers. 


THE  HELPERS    OF  CATHERINE    II.  :     THE  GREA1T    LEGISLATIVE   COM- 
MISSION (1766-1768). 

Catherine  II.  surrounded  herself  with  distinguished  fellow- 
workers,  some  of  whom  were  her  favorites.  In  the  early  part 
of  her  reign,  the  influence  of  the  Orlofs  was  predominant ;  these 
were  Gregory  Orlof,  the  favorite  par  excellence,  grand  master  of 
the  artillery,  by  whom  she  had  a  recognized  son,  Alexis,  created 
Count  Bobrinski ;  Alexis  Orlof,  the  admiral,  who  received  the 
name  of  Tchesmenski  after  the  expedition  to  the  Archipelago, 
and  was  involved  in  the  tragic  history  of  the  Princess  Tarankof  ; 
Theodore  Orlof,  who  became  procurator-general  of  the  Senate ; 
Vladimir  Orlof,  who  was  director  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one.  Later,  the  favor  of  the  Orlofs  was  out- 
weighed by  that  of  Potemkine,  creator  of  New  Russia,  organizer 
of  the  Crimea,  conqueror  of  the  Ottomans  m  the  second  war 
with  Turkey,  and  who,  as  Prince  of  the  Taurid,  displayed  his 
Asiatic  luxury  in  his  palace  of  the  same  name  at  St.  Petersburg. 
Of  all  the  favorites  who,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign,  succeeded 
each  other  so  rapidly,  only  one  had  any  Teal  influence  ovei 
affairs.  This  was  Plato  Zoubof,  whose  brother  Valerian  con- 
ducted the  war  with  Persia.  In  the  direction  of  foreign  affairs 
were  distinguished  Nikita  Panine,  and  later  Bezborodko,  Oster- 
mann,  Markof,  and  Voronzof.  Repnine  and  Sievers  in  Poland, 
Budberg  at  Stockolm,  Semen  Veronzof  in  London,  and  Dmitri 
Galitsyne  at  Paris,  have  made  themselves  a  name  in  diplomacy. 
The  army  was  commanded  by  Alexander  Galitsyne,  Dolgorouki, 
Roumantsof,  and  Souvorof ;  the  fleet  by  Greig,  Spiridof,  and 
Tchitchagof ;  Ivan  Betski  had  charge  of  the  fine  arts  and  of 
benevoleai  institutions. 


HISTOR  \ '  OF  RUSSIA.  t0 1 

From  1766  to  1768  Catherine  II.  assembled  first  at  Moscow  and 
afterwards  at  St.  Petersburg  the  commission  for  the  compilation 
of  the  new  code.  This  commission  was  composed  of  deputies 
from  all  the  services  of  the  State,  from  all  the  orders  and  all 
the  races  of  the  empire.  Besides  the  delegates  from  the  Senate, 
the  synod,  and  the  colleges  and  the  courts  of  Chancery,  the 
nobles  elected  a  representative  for  each  district,  the  citizens  one 
for  every  city,  the  odnovortsi  or  free  colonists  one  for  every  prov- 
ince, the  soldiers,  militia,  and  other  fighting  men,  also  one  for 
each  province  ;  the  Crown  peasants,  the  fixed  tribes,  whether 
Christians  or  not,  equally  elected  one  for  each  province ;  the 
deputation  of  the  Cossack  armies  was  fixed  by  their  atamans. 

Six  hundred  and  fifty-two  deputies  assembled  at  Moscow ; 
officials,  nobles,  citizens,  peasants,  Tatars,  Kalmucks,  Lapps, 
Samoyedes,  and  many  others.  Each  man  was  to  be  furnished 
with  full  powers  and  with  papers  compiled  by  at  least  five  of  the 
electors.  Each  received  a  medal  with  the  effigy  of  Catherine, 
and  the  motto,  "  For  the  happiness  of  each  and  of  all,  Dec.  14, 
1766."  The  were  exempted  forever  from  all  corporal  punish- 
ments, and  were  declared  inviolable  during  the  session.  In  the 
'  Instructions  for  the  arrangement  of  the  New  Code,'  Catherine 
II.  had,  according  to  her  own  expression,  "  pillaged "  the 
philosophers  of  the  West,  especially  Montesquieu  and  Becaria. 
"  It  contained,"  says  the  prudent  Panine,  "  axioms  enough  to 
knock  a  wall  down."  Catherine  II.  assures  Voltaire  that  her 
'  Instruction  '  was  interdicted  at  Paris.  Among  the  ideas  of 
which  she  boasted,  we  meet  with  the  following,  which  were 
certainly  calculated  to  enrage  Louis  XV. : — "  The  nation  is  not 
made  for  the  sovereign,  but  the  sovereign  for  the  nation.  Equality 
consists  in  the  obedience  of  the  citizens  to  the  law  alone,  liberty 
is  the  right  to  do  all  that  is  not  forbidden  by  law.  It  is  better 
to  spare  ten  guilty  men  than  to  put  one  innocent  man  to  death. 
Torture  is  an  admirable  means  for  convicting  an  innocent  but 
weakly  man,  and  for  saving  a  stout  fellow  even  when  he  is 
guilty,"  Other  maxims  loudly  condemned  intolerance,  religious 
persecutions,  and  cruel  punishments. 

The  assembly  nominated  many  committees,  and  held  more 
than  two  hundred  sittings.  The  most  vexed  questions  were 
openly  discussed.  Nobles  of  the  Baltic  claimed  their  provincial 
rights,  merchants  brought  forward  municipal  organization  and 
all  economical  questions,  gentlemen  proposed  to  restrain  the 
rights  of  masters,  and  to  pronounce  the  pregnant  word  "  en- 
franchisement of  the  peasants."  It  was  not,  however,  an  as- 
sembly so  numerous,  so  divided  by  the  interests  of  classes,  and 
of  such  various  races  that  could  arrange  a  new  code.     It  was  a 


102  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

work  almost  impossible  in  the  Russia  of  that  period,  which  con- 
tained within  itself  so  many  divers  forces.  The  Empress,  forced 
by  the  Turkish  war  to  break  up  the  assembly,  expressed  herself 
satisfied  with  her  experiment.  "  The  Commission  for  the  Code 
has  given  me  hints  for  all  the  empire.  I  know  now  what  is 
necessary,  and  with  what  I  should  occupy  myself.  It  has 
elaborated  all  parts  of  the  legislation,  and  has  distributed  the 
affairs  under  heads.  I  should  have  done  more  without  the  war 
with  Turkey,  but  a  unity  hitherto  unknown  in  the  principles  and 
methods  of  discussion  has  been  introduced."  These  States- 
general  of  Russia  influenced  the  laws  of  Catherine  II.,  as  the 
French  States-general  of  1356,  of  1413,  or  of  the  16th  century 
influenced  the  laws  of  Charles  V.,  Charles  VII.,  or  the  later 
Valois. 

In  the  course  of  the  discussions  the  deputy  noble  Korobine 
had  proposed  to  suppress  the  rights  of  property  over  the  serfs, 
and  only  to  leave  the  masters  the  right  of  superintendence. 
Protapof,  another  deputy,  then  observed  that  "in  that  case 
nothing  would  remain  but  to  set  the  peasant  free,  but  that,  if 
this  was  the  intention  of  the  Empress,  it  was  necessary  to  pro- 
ceed gradually."  The  Economical  Society  founded,  under  the 
auspices  of  Catherine  II.,  by  the  care  of  Gregory  Orlof  and 
other  "  patriots,"  had  put  the  question  to  the  assembly.  A 
paper,  dated  from  Aix-la-Chapelle,  pronouncing  for  emancipa- 
tion, obtained  the  prize,  but  other  influences  were  at  work  to 
efface  the  recollection  of  this  essay  from  the  mind  of  the  Empress. 
The  Russian  aristocracy  were  then  little  disposed  to  abdicate 
their  rights,  as  is  shown  by  the  conversations  of  Princess  Dach- 
kof  with  Diderot,  and  the  correspondence  of  Dmitri  Galitsyne. 
Catherine  confined  herself  to  repressing  the  most  crying  abuses. 
The  trial  of  Daria  Saltydof,  convicted  of  having  caused  the 
death  of  forty  of  her  servants  by  torture,  shows  to  what  a  point 
slavery,  which  degrades  the  serf,  could  demoralize  the  masters. 
She  was  condemned  in  1768  to  be  publicly  pilloried,  and  to 
perpetual  imprisonment ;  her  memory  still  lives  in  the  legends  of 
the  people.  The  same  reasons  which  had  caused  the  establish- 
ment of  serfage  in  the  time  of  Boris  Godounof  seemed  to  oper- 
ate in  favor  of  its  continuance.  Catherine  II.,  in  spite  of  a  few 
generous  impulses,  finally  aggravated  the  existing  state  of  things. 
More  than  150,000  Crown  peasants  were  transformed  into  serfs 
of  nobles,  by  being  distributed  among  her  favorites.  In  T767  an 
edict  forbade  peasants  to  complain  of  their  masters,  who  were 
authorized  to  send  them  at  will  to  Siberia,  or  to  force  them  to 
become  recruits.  Catherine  II.  established  serfage  in  Little 
Russia,  where  it  had  hitherto  had  no  legal  existence. 


NISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


ADMINISTRATION   AND  JUSTICE  :   COLONIZATION. 


lOJ 


The  Empress's  "  Council  "  deprived  the  Senate  of  part  of  its 
political  importance  ;  but  the  latter,  divided  into  six  departments, 
had  under  its  jurisdiction  all  the  branches  of  the  public  admin 
istration.  Catherine  II.  attacked  the  vesiatski,  exactions  and 
peculations — the  most  inveterate  evil  of  this  administration. 
"  I  consider  it,"  says  a  oukaze  of  1762,  "  as  my  most  essential 
and  necessary  duty  to  declare  to  the  people,  with  the  profound- 
est  sorrrw,  that  corruption  has  progressed  so  rapidly  that  it  is 
hardly  possible  to  cite  an  administration  or  a  tribunal  that  is 
not  infected  by  it.  If  anyone  asks  for  a  place,  he  must  pay  for 
it ;  if  a  man  has  to  defend  himself  against  calumny,  it  is  with 
money ;  if  you  wish  falsely  to  accuse  your  neighbor,  you  can  by 
gifts  insure  the  success  of  your  wicked  designs.  Many  judges 
have  transformed  the  sacred  place  where  they  should  administer 
justice  in  the  name  of  the  Almighty  into  a  market.  My  heart 
trembled  when  I  learned  that  a  registrar  of  the  Government 
Court  of  Chancery  at  Novgorod  found  an  opportunity,  while  re- 
ceiving the  oath  of  allegiance  from  my  subjects,  to  accept  from 
each  a  piece  of  money." 

One  means  of  securing  the  administration  of  the  laws  was, 
perhaps,  to  diminish  the  extent  of  the  governments,  which  placed 
the  seat  of  justice  too  far  from  the  people  governed.  By  an 
edict  of  1775  Catherine  modified  all  the  territorial  divisions  of 
the  empire.  Instead  of  fifteen  provinces  she  created  fifty 
governments,  each  with  a  population  of  from  300,000  to  400,000 
souls,  and  subdivided  into  districts  of  20,000  to  30,000  inhabit- 
ants. Every  province  had  its  governor  and  its  vice-governor; 
the  governor-generals,  or  namie'stniki,  were  invested  with  author- 
ity over  two  or  three  governments.  Thus  Livonia,  Esthonia,  and, 
Courland  had  each  a  governor,  with  a  governor-general  between 
them.  Administration  was  definitely  separated  from  justice  ; 
each  governor  was  aided  by  a  council  of  regency  for  administra- 
tion and  the  police,  by  a  chamber  of  finance  for  taxes,  property, 
mines,  the  census,  and  a  college  of  provision  for  hospitals  and 
the  assistance  of  the  public. 

The  judicial  system  increased  the  profound  separation  of 
classes.  There  were,  in  the  first  instance,  district  tribunals  for 
gentlemen,  city  magistrates  for  the  townspeople,  inferior  justices 
for  the  odnovortsi  or  free  colonists,  and  for  the  Crown  peasants. 
There  was  nothing  for  the  serfs  of  the  nobles.  No  text  of  law 
positively  authorized  the  repression  of  the  most  cruel  seignorial 
abuses  ;  the  sense  of  two  articles  of  the  military  code  had  to  be 


so4 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


wrested  before  even  the  lives  of  the  agricultural  slaves  could  be 
protected.  As  courts  of  appeal,  a  supreme  tribunal,  a  govern- 
ment magistracy,  and  a  superior  court  of  justice  were  to  be  found 
in  the  head-quarters  of  each  division  of  government.  All  this 
hierarchy  led  to  a  court  of  final  appeal  in  the  Senate.  In  the 
towns  of  the  government  there  were  juries  for  certain  criminal 
causes  which  acted  as  justices  of  the  peace  in  civil  actions. 

The  nobility  had  received  a  sort  of  provincial  organization. 
In  each  government  there  existed  an  assembly  of  the  nobles, 
which  elected  a  marshal  and  other  dignitaries  ;  and  as  Cathe- 
rine II.  could  not  revoke  the  law  of  Peter  III.,  she  forced  gentle- 
men to  serve  by  depriving  those  nobles  of  the  right  of  suffrage 
in  the  elections  who  had  not  obtained  the  rank  of  officers,  and 
also  refused  them  certain  prerogatives  of  their  own  order. 

Special  privileges  had  been  accorded  to  the  merchants  and 
citizens  (mie'chtchanes)  of  the  towns ;  among  them  were  the 
election  of  their  magistrates,  an  individual  jurisdiction,  and  a 
kind  of  municipal  self-government.  They  were  divided,  like  the 
merchants,  into  three  guilds :  to  the  first  belonged  men  with  a 
capital  of  less  than  10,000  roubles  ;  to  the  second,  those  who 
had  at  least  1000 ;  to  the  third,  those  with  a  property  worth  more 
than  500  roubles.  Below  this,  all  the  citizens  were  confounded 
in  the  appellation  of  miechtchanes.  In  the  matter  of  commerce 
and  trade  Catherine  had  renounced  the.system  of  protection  and 
surveillance  adopted  by  Peter  the  Great,  except  in  the  case  of 
cereals,  the  consumption  of  which  she  tried  to  regulate  by  es- 
tablishing granaries  in  abundance.  She  finally  suppressed  the 
three  colleges  of  mines,  manufactures,  and  commerce. 

To  people  the  uninhabited  though  fertile  lands  of  the  Volga 
and  the  Ukraine,  Catherine  called  in  foreign  colonists ;  she 
offered  them  a  capital  to  aid  in  their  settlement,  for  which  no 
interest  was  to  be  asked  for  the  space  of  ten  years,  and  ex- 
empted them  from  all  taxes  for  thirty  years.  These  colonists 
were  chiefly  Germans,  the  greater  part  from  the  Palatinate. 
Like  Frederic  II.,  she  offered  an  asylum  to  the  Moravians,  and 
to  all  persecuted  religious  sects.  In  the  province  of  Saratof 
alone,  she  induced  12,000  families  to  take  up  their  abode,  whose 
descendants,  now  very  numerous,  still  inhabit  the  country,  and 
preserve  unbroken  the  German  language  and  customs.  In  the 
single  year  of  1771  as  many  as  26,000  people  answered  her  ap- 
peal. The  suppression  of  the  hetmanate  of  Little  Russia,  and 
the  extinction  of  the  setcha  of  the  Zaporogues,  favored  coloniza- 
tion. The  Empress  founded  nearly  200  new  towns,  many  of 
which,  as  Ekaterineburg  and  Ekaterinoslaf  (  "  glory  of  Cathe- 
rine "),  bore  her  name.  They  have  not  all  prospered,  but  in 
1793  Pallas  reckoned  a  population  of  33,000  at  Saratof. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  105 

One  reform  projected  by  Peter  I.,  and  clumsily  pushed  for^ 
ward  by  Peter  III.,  was  accomplished  by  Catherine  II. :  this  was 
the  secularization  of  the  Church  property.  The  number  of  peas 
ants  belonging  to  the  clergy,  regular  as  well  as  secular, 
amounted  to  nearly  a  million.  The  monastery  of  St.  Cyril,  on 
the  White  Lake,  possessed  35,000;  that  of  St.  Sergius,  at 
Troitsa,  120,000.  The  abbots  of  these  monasteries  may  be 
compared  to  the  sovereign  prelates,  to  the  priest-kings  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine.  Catherine  II.,  who  was  afterwards  to  pro- 
test so  loudly  against  the  resumption  of  Church  property  during 
the  French  Revolution,  effected  this  important  change  with  the 
greatest  quietness.  She  formed  a  commission  of  churchmen 
and  functionaries,  who  managed  to  carry  out  the  operation.  The 
property  of  the  Church  was  placed  under  the  administration  of 
an  "  economical  commission,"  charged  with  the  collection  of 
the  revenues,  in  the  proportion  of  a  rouble  and  a  half  for  every 
male  peasant.  The  monasteries,  thus  converted  from  proprie- 
tors to  Crown-pensioners,  were  indemnified  according  to  their 
importance,  and  were  divided  into  three  classes.  Their  surplus 
revenues  were  applied  to  the  foundation  of  ecclesiastical  schools, 
homes  for  invalids,  and  hospitals. 

Catherine  II.  had  written  an  account  of  the  work  of  the  com- 
mission in  compiling  the  code,  to  Voltaire.  "  I  think  you  will 
be  pleased  by  this  assembly,  where  the  orthodox  man  is  to  be 
found  seated  between  the  heretic  and  the  Mussulman,  all  three 
listening  to  the  voice  of  an  idolater,  and  all  four  consulting  how 
to  render  their  conclusion  palatable  to  all."  This  was  the  res- 
toration of  religious  tolerance  in  Russia,  after  the  reign  of  the 
pious  Elizabeth.  In  the  provinces  taken  from  Poland,  a  natural 
reaction  from  the  Polish  system  obtained  many  converts  to 
orthodoxy  ;  in  the  latter  years  of  the  reign  they  amounted  to 
1,500,000  souls.  Catherine  II.  was  so  far  from  persecuting  the 
Catholics,  that  she  allowed  the  Jesuits,  notwithstanding  their 
legal  suppression  by  Pope  Clement  XIV.,  to  purchase  the  right 
of  existence  in  White  Russia.  She  authorized  the  Volga  Tatars 
to  rebuild  their  mosques,  and  thus  checked  the  Mussulman  emi- 
gration provoked  by  the  severity  of  Elizabeth.  The  raskolniks 
were  protected,  reassured,  and  freed  from  the  double  tax  im- 
posed on  them  by  Peter  the  Great,  and  the  "  bureau  "  of  the 
raskolniks  was  suppressed. 

The  population  of  the  empire  increased  during  this  reign  to 
40,000,000,  but  it  was  still  far  too  small  to  cultivate  the  enor- 
mous plains.  One  great  obstacle  to  the  multiplication  of  the  in- 
habitants has  always  been  the  want  of  hygiene,  the  lack  of  doc- 
tors, the  absence  of  al\  assistance  from  science,  and  the  mor* 


i  06  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSfA. 

tality  of  children,  which  counterbalanced  the  fruitfulness  of  the 
marriages.  Catherine  II.  did  everything  that  could  be  done  at 
that  period.  She  encouraged  the  study  of  medicine,  sent  for 
foreign  physicians,  founded  a  "  department  of  the  College  of 
Pharmacy  "  at  Moscow,  helped  to  build  manufactories  of  chirur- 
gical  instruments,  introduced  inoculation  into  Moscow,  and  van- 
quished the  popular  outcry  by  being  herself  the  first  subject. 
She  desired  Dimsdale,  the  Englishman,  to  inoculate  her  as  well 
as  her  son  by  Gregory  Orlof.  This  was  at  the  time  that  small- 
pox carried  off  Louis  XV.  and  the  children  of  the  King  of 
Spain.  "  That  is  very  foreign,"  writes  Catherine  to  Voltaire ; 
and  again  "  more  people  have  been  inoculated  here  in  one 
month  than  have  been  inoculated  in  Vienna  in  a  year."  Even 
the  natives  of  Siberia  recognized  the  benefits  of  the  new  inven- 
tion, but  the  Mussulmans,  the  raskolniks,  and  part  of  the  Rus- 
sian people  energetically  defended  themselves  against  it. 


PUBLIC  INSTRUCTION — LETTERS   AND  ARTS — FRENCH  PHILOSOPHY. 

The  Empress  displayed  the  same  eagerness  to  instruct  the 
upper  and  middle  classes,  if  she  did  not  seek  to  touch  the  peo- 
ple, properly  speaking,  whose  masses  could  not  be  penetrated 
by  a  culture  that  was  still  superficial.  "  To  triumph  over  secu- 
lar superstitions,"  she  dictated  to  Betski,  "  to  give  a  new  educa- 
tion, and  in  one  sense  a  new  life  to  the  people,  is  a  work  de- 
manding incredible  toil,  and  of  which  posterity  alone  will  reap 
the  fruits."  From  the  lack  of  a  national  education,  "  Russia 
wanted  the  class  of  men  known  in  other  countries  as  the  third 
estate."  Betski  thought  it  necessary  that  the  children  should 
be  taught  by  Russians,  as  strangers  would  fail  to  understand 
how  much  in  their  pupils  belonged  to  the  religion,  habits,  and 
manners  of  the  country.  The  moment  had  not  yet  come  when 
Russia  could  do  without  foreign  teachers.  The  scheme  of  na- 
tional education  for  children  of  all  classes,  presented  by  Betski, 
could  only  partially  be  realized  ;  secondary  schools  were  founded 
in  the  great  cities  alone.  Catherine  II.  also  interested  herself 
in  the  instruction  of  women.  At  the  monastery  or  institute  of 
Smolna,  she  assembled  480  young  girls,  under  the  direction  of  a 
Frenchwoman,  Madame  Lafond.  "  We  want  them  to  be  neither 
prudes  nor  coquettes,"  she  writes  to  Voltaire.  French  and 
other  foreign  languages  and  accomplishments  were  taught  there  ; 
but  the  line  between  the  pupils  of  noble  birth  and  tradesmen's 
daughters  was  sharply  drawn.  A  splendid  foundation  of  Cathe- 
rine's was  the  "  Vospitatelayi  Dom,"  or  house  of  education  at 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


107 


Moscow, — a  large  establishment,  which  was  to  extort  admira- 
tion from  Napoleon  I.,  and  where  nearly  40,000  children  in  need 
of  assistance,  or  girl-pupils,  were  received  in  Catherine's  reign. 
The  serf  who  married  one  of  these  orphans  became  free. 

The  influence  of  French  genius  over  Russian  civilization 
greatly  increased  during  the  reign  of  Catherine  II.  The  national 
poets  translated  and  imitated  the  French  classics  of  the  17th 
century.  The  great  Russian  nobles,  like  the  Voronzofs  and  the 
Galitsynes,  esteemed  it  an  honor,  as  did  the  French  nobility  on 
their  side,  to  correspond  with  the  writers  and  thinkers  of  the 
West.  Catherine  II.  quotes,  in  the  preface  to  her  laws,  some  of 
Montesquieu's  most  audacious  maxims.  This  French  influence 
was  beneficial,  although  it  was  only  exercised  on  the  upper 
classes  of  society,  and  often  stopped  at  the  exterior  without 
modifying  either  the  character  or  the  manners.  It  was  this  that 
introduced  or  strengthened  in  the  Russian  nobility  those  ideas 
of  religious  tolerance,  of  moral  dignity,  of  respect  for  the  human 
body,  even  in  the  person  of  a  slave, — those  habits  of  courtesy 
and  politeness,  those  aspirations-after  social  justice  and  political 
liberty,  which  must,  in  the  long  run,  perform  their  work,  soften 
the  hardness  of  the  old  boyards,  prepare  for  the  emancipation 
of  the  agricultural  classes,  and  bring  about  the  regeneration  of 
Russia.  We  shall,  however,  see  the  Russian  nobility,  who  had 
apparently  followed  the  French  philosophers  into  their  most 
audacious  deductions,  suddenly  frightened  at  the  most  moderate 
reforms  of  1789,  and  declaring  loudly  against  revolutionary 
France.  We  shall  find  characters  in  which  a  slight  varnish  of 
Parisian  civilization  scarcely  hides  the  ancient  barbarism,  but  it 
was  not  in  vain  that  Catherine's  contemporaries  had  been 
fascinated  by  Montesquieu,  by  Voltaire,  and  by  the  American 
revolution.  The  social  state  of  Russia,  divided  into  an  aristoc- 
racy of  proprietors  and  a  people  of  serfs,  prevented  the  country 
from  advancing  with  the  same  rapidity  as  France,  bu^  French 
ideas  did  not  delay  her  progress. 

Catherine  II.  was  not  less  eager  than  her  nobles  in  seeking 
the  sympathy  of  French  writers  ;  her  correspondence  with  phil- 
osophers added  not  a  little  to  her  prestige  in  the  Europe  of  the 
18th  century,  and  to  her  fame  with  posterity.  She  attracted 
Grimm,  once  a  friend  of  Rousseau,  to  her  service,  and  he  sent 
her  regular  letters  from  Paris  on  the  affairs  of  France.  She 
affected  a  gracious  familiarity  towards  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  and 
the  French  ambassador,  Count  de  Sdgur,  both  men  distinguished 
for  wit  and  literary  talents  ;  admitted  them  into  her  travelling- 
carriage  during  a  long  journey  to  the  South,  and  was  able  to  re- 
spond to  their  ingenious  flatteries  and  to  their  lively  sallies.   She 


!  08  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

wished  to  employ  Mercier  de  la  Riviere,  and  to  secure  the  ser- 
vices of  Beccaria,  author  of  the  '  Treatise  on  Crimes  and  Penal- 
ties  ;  '  she  declared  herself  the  "  good  friend  "  of  Madame 
Gdoffrin,  whose  Parisian  salon  was  one  of  the  intellectual  powers 
of  that  epoch.  She  offered  to  D'Alembert,  who  refused  it,  the 
superintendence  of  the  education  of  the  Grand  Duke  Paul,  heir 
to  the  throne  ;  later,  she  placed  the  Swiss  Laharpe,  celebrated 
for  his  republican  opinions,  with  her  grandsons  Alexander  and 
Constantine.  She  thanked  Marmontel  for  sending  her  his 
'  Belisarius,'  "  a  book  which  deserves  to  be  translated  into  all 
languages,"  caused  a  translation  of  it  to  be  made  by  her  friends 
during  a  voyage  down  the  Volga,  and  even  undertook  the  ninth 
chapter  herself.  She  bought  the  library  of  Diderot,  yet  allowed 
him  to  enjoy  it  ;  subscribed  to  the  '  Encyclopaedia,'  which  was 
forbidden  to  appear  in  Paris  ;  admired  the  '  Pensees  Philoso- 
phiques,'  condemned  by  the  Parliament  to  be  burned,  and  the 
'  Lettre  surles  Aveugles,'  which  had  consigned  the  philosopher 
to  the  Bastile.  She  sent  for  the  author  to  St.  Petersburg,  and 
entertained  him  for  a  month  with  the  most  brilliant  hospitality. 
The  great  sculptor  Falconet,  the  friend  of  Diderot  and  the 
Encyclopaedists,  was  already  there,  working  at  the  statue  of 
Peter  the  Great.  It  was  with  Voltaire,  above- all,  that  Catherine 
kept  up  a  close  correspondence,  beginning  in  1763,  and  continu- 
ing to  the  death  of  the  great  man  in  1778.  She  wished  herself 
to  keep  him  informed,  not  only  of  her  victories,  but  of  her 
reforms,  her  efforts  at  legislation  and  labors  for  the  colonization 
of  Russia,  knowing  that  the  hermit  of  Ferney  had  fame  in  his 
gift.  She  gave  money  to  h\s proteges,  the  families  of  Sirven  and 
Calas,  victims  of  the  judicial  abuses  of  the  18th  century  ;  and, 
after  the  expedition  of  Alexis  Orlof  to  the  Archipelago,  caused 
him  to  hope  for  the  resurrection  of  Greece.  She  multiplied  the 
purchases  of  pictures  and  works  of  art,  and  endowed  the  capital 
of  Peter  the  Great  with  artistic  splendors  hitherto  unknown. 

In  spite  of  her  devotion  to  the  arts  and  letters  of  the  West, 
Catherine  piqued  herself  on  being,  above  everything,  a  Russian 
empress  ;  and  jestingly  bade  her  doctor  to  bleed  her  of  her  last 
drop  of  German  blood.  She  has  a  place  of  her  own  in  Russian 
literature  of  the  18th  century,  having  compiled  for  the  use  of 
her  grandsons  Alexander  and  Constantine  the  '  Grandmother's 
A.B.C.,'  stories  from  Russian  history,  and  a  whole  '  Alexandro- 
Constantine  Library,'  which  had  the  honor  to  be  printed  in  Ger- 
many. The  prefaces  to  her  laws,  her  correspondence  in  Rus- 
sian, French,  and  German  with  her  ministers,  her  governors, 
and  friends  in  France  and  Germany,  prove  her  literary  activity. 
She  also  worked  for  the  new-born  Russian  theatre  :  in  her  lyrie 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


109 


drama  called  '  Oleg,'  the  first  expedition  of  the  Russians  against 
Constantinople  is  celebrated  ,  in  her  comedy  of  '  Gord  Bogatyr* 
(the  Knight  of  Misfortune),  she  turns  into  ridicule  the  adven- 
turous Gustavus  III.  ;  in  those  of  the  '  Charlatan  '  and  the 'Mys- 
tified Man,'  she  chastises  Cagliostro,  who  sought  for  dupes  even 
in  Russia  ;  while  the  '  Birthday  of  Madame  Vortchalkina,'  '  O 
Time,'  and  many  others,  are  satires  on  contemporary  manners. 
Against  the  French  Abbe  Chappe  d'Auteroche,  and  his  voyage 
to  Siberia,  she  published  an  amusing  pamphlet,  called  '  The 
Antidote.'  Finally,  she  has  left  in  French  some  curious  memoirs 
about  her  arrival  in  Russia  and  her  life  as  a  Grand  Duchess. 

The  Russian  Academy,  modelled  in  some  degree  after  the 
French,  was  founded  in  1783,  on  the  suggestion  of  Princess 
Dachkof,  then  President  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  The  task 
of  "  fixing  the  rules  of  the  orthography,  grammar,  and  prosody 
of  the  Russian  language,  and  of  encouraging  the  study  of 
Russian  history,"  was  confided  to  her.  She  then  undertook 
the  publication  of  a  dictionary  which  appeared  from  1789  to 
1799,  which  included  in  its  six  volumes  43,257  words,  and  was 
re-edited  from  1840  to  1850.  Indeed  the  Russian  Academy  was 
so  much  in  fashion  that  the  most  illustrious  men  of  letters  and 
the  highest  ladies  of  rank — Princess  Dachkof,  the  poets  Der- 
javine,  Fon-Vizine,  Kniajnine,  and  Count  Ivan  Schouvalof — 
insisted  on  working  at  the  dictionary.  Catherine  II.  herself 
compiled  '  Complementary  Notes '  for  the  first  volume.  In  1835, 
the  minister  Ouvarof  amalgamated  the  Russian  Academy  with 
the  Academy  of  Sciences,  under  the  title  of  "  Second  Class.' ' 

Catherine  II.  made  herself  the  patroness  of  Russian  literati. 
If  she  imposed  the  recital  of  a  certain  number  of  lines  from  the 
Telemachid  of  Trediakovski  as  a  penance  on  her  friends  of 
Tsarkoe-Selo,  or  the  Hermitage,  she  encouraged  Fon-Vizine,  the 
comic  author,  the  Russian  Molier:,  who  in  his  comedy  of  the 
'  Brigadier '  derided  those  whose  only  reading  were  the  French 
romances,  and  ridiculed  in  his  '  Fop'  (the  niedorosl)  the  indolence 
and  frivolity  of  the  young  Russian  nobles,  the  foolish  infatuation 
of  their  parents,  and  the  strange  choice  of  their  preceptors.  The 
taste  for  the  pleasures  of  wit  was  spread  by  the  theatre  of  Soum- 
arokof,  in  many  ways  an  imitation  of  the  French  theatre,  whoso 
plays  were  often  acted  by  the  corps  of  cadets,  at  the  court  and 
in  public  places.  Kniajnine  wrote '  The  Miller,*  a  comedy 
which  has  kept  its  place  on  the  boards,  '  The  Boaster,' 4  The 
Originals,'  '  The  Fatal  Carriage,'  and  attempted  an  historical 
drama  in  '  Vadim  of  Novgorod.'  Kheraskof  composed  '  The 
Russiad,'  an  epic  poem.  Bogdanovitch  reproduced,  in  the  light 
poetry  of  the  "  Douchenka,"  the  antique  subject  of  Psychs. 


1 1  o  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Chemnitzler  translated  the  fables  of  Gellert,  and  invented  others 
in  Russian,  whose  natural  ease  recalled  La  Fontaine  and  pre- 
dicted Krylof.  Derjavine,  in  hi  odes  '  To  God  '  on  '  The  Cap- 
ture of  Ismail,'  '  The  Death  of  Prince  Mechtcherski,'  '  The 
Cascade,'  '  My  Idol,  '  The  Great  Noble,'  continued  the  lyrical 
traditions  of  Lomonossof.  His  piece  of  '  Felitsa,'  a  lively  satire 
of  high  society,  full  of  malicious  allusions  to  different  people  ot 
the  court,  which  might  have  cost  him  dear  under  the  preceding 
reigns,  gained  him  a  golden  tobacco-box  and  a  rich  gift  from  the 
Empress,  who  took  care  to  send  copies  of  the  '  Felitsa '  to  all 
alluded  to,  underlining  the  passages  applied  to  them.  Although 
a  poet,  Gerjavine  was  Minister  of  Justice. 

The  ardent  and  laborious  Novikof,  in  order  that  the  new  cult- 
ure might  penetrate  to  the  silent  masses  of  the  smaller  trades- 
people, and  also  to  the  people,  took  up  the  '  Moscow  Gazette,'  se- 
cured for  it  4000  subscribers  (an  enormous  number  for  the  time), 
perfected  the  Russian  typography,  created  new  libraries,  and  pub- 
lished a  series  of  reviews  and  magazines  for  home  readings  for  the 
young  and  for  nearly  illiterate  workmen.  Among  these  were  the 
'Pilgrim's  Staff,'  the  'Painter,'  the  'Purse,'  the  'Ancient 
Library  of  Russia,'  the  '  Couriers  of  Russian  Antiquities,'  the 
'  Morning  Aurora,'  the  '  Evening  Aurora,'  the  '  Edition  of  Mos- 
cow,' and  the  '  Rest  of  the  Worker.'  He  founded  some  philan- 
thropical  societies,  and  that  of  the  Friends  of  Instruction,  and 
took  in  hand  the  cause  of  national  education. 

The  aged  Miiller  edited  the  first  '  National  History  of  Rus- 
sia,' by  Tatichtchef  ;  and  the  '  Kernel  of  Russian  History,'  by 
Mankief.  Pallas  of  Berlin  performed  his  celebrated  travels  in 
the  Crimea,  in  Siberia,  and  on  the  frontiers  of  China,  and  was 
given  by  the  Empress  an  estate  in  the  Taurid.  Golikof,  pardoned 
by  Catherine  II.  on  the  occasion  of  the  inauguration  of  Fal- 
conet's bronze,  vowed  at  the  feet  of  Peter's  statue  to  raise  an 
historical  monument  to  the  glory  of  the  Russian  hero,  and 
published  in  twelve  volumes  the  '  Actions  of  Peter  the  Great.' 
Prince  Chtcherbatof  wrote  the  '  History  of  Russia  from  the 
most  Remote  Times.'  Boltine  discussed  the  recent  history  of 
Russia  by  the  French  Leclerc.  Moussine-Pouchkine  discovered 
the  unique  manuscript  of  the  '  Song  of  Igor.'  Khrapovitski 
(confidential  secretary  of  Catherine  II.),  Porochine  (one  of  the 
masters  of  the  Grand  Duke  Paul),  Nikita  Panine  (the  diplo- 
matist), the  great  nobles,  Semen  and  Alexander  Voronzof,  their 
sister  Catherine  Dachkof,  and  the  old  soldier  Bolotof,  collected 
or  prepared  valuable  memoirs  on  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and 
Catherine.  The  historian  Karamzine,  and  the  dramatic  poet 
Ozerof,  the  glories  of  the  following  reigns,  were  yet  only  boys. 


B/S TORY  OF  R USSJA .  g i s 


CHAPTER  X. 

CATHERINE  II.  !    LAST  YEARS  (1779-1796). 

Franco-Russian  mediation  at  Teschen  (1779)— Armed  neutrality  (1780)— 
Reunion  of  the  Crimea  (1783)— Second  war  with  Turkey  (1787-1792)  and 
war  with  Sweden  (1788-1790) — Second  partition  of  Poland  :  Diet  of  Grodno 
— Third  partition:  Kosciuszko — Catherine  II.  and  the  French  Revolution 
— War  with  Persia. 


FRANCO-RUSSIAN    MEDIATION    AT    TESCHEN    (1779) — ARMED    NEU- 
TRALITY (1780) REUNION    OF   THE   CRIMEA    (1783). 

The  second  part  of  the  reign  of  Catherine  II.  is  characterized 
by  the  abandonment  of  the  "  System  of  the  North  " ;  that  is,  of 
the  English  and  Prussian  alliance,  and  by  a  marked  reconcili- 
ation, first  with  Austria  and  then  with  France.  The  dominant 
influence  in  foreign  affairs  of  Nikita  Panine  was  to  give  place  to 
that  of  Bezborodko,  and  especially  of  Potemkine,  who  became 
all-powerful.  It  was  at  this  epoch  that  the  French  ambassadors 
(the  Marquis  de  Juigne,  Bouree  de  Corberon,  the  Marquis  de 
Verac,  and  above  all  the  Comte  de  Segur)  were  again  taken  into 
favor  in  Russia. 

In  1777,  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  being  dead,  his  succession 
occasioned  a  conflict  between  the  house  of  Austria  and  Frederic 
II.  In  order  to  stop  this  war,  which  had  already  begun  in  Bo« 
hernia,  the  Courts  of  France  and  Russia  agreed  to  offer  their 
mediation,  and  in  1779  assembled  a  Congress  at  Teschen,  where 
M.  Breteuil  represented  Louis  XVI.,  and  the  Prince  Repnine 
Catharine  II.  Peace  was  signed  on  the  10th  of  May.  Bavaria 
passed  to  the  Elector  Palatine,  and  Austria  only  acquired  some 
districts  upon  the  Danube,  the  Inn,  and  the  Salza. 

In  1780,  during  the  American  War,  the  Empress,  moved  to 
indignation  by  the  wrongs  committed  by  the  English  Admiralty 
against  foreign  merchantmen,  joined  with  Sweden,  Denmark, 
Prussia,  Austria,  and  Portugal  to  proclaim  an  armed  neutrality. 
The  celebrated  act  embodied  the  principles  of  a  new  maritime 
law,  agreeing  with  the  French  code  of  1778.     It  was  settled? 


IZ?  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 

i.  That  neutral  ships  could  freely  navigate  the  coasts  of  the  na- 
tions at  war.  2.  That  the  goods  belonging  to  the  subjects  of 
the  belligerent  powers  should  be  safe  in  neutral  vessels,  except  in 
the  case  of  contraband  merchandise.  3.  That  "  contraband 
goods  "  only  included  arms  and  munition.  4.  That  a  port  should 
only  be  considered  in  a  state  of  blockade  when  the  blockade  was 
effectual — that  is,  when  the  vessels  attacking  it  should  be  so 
near  as  to  render  it  dangerous  to  pass  out.  5.  That  these  prin- 
ciples should  serve  as  a  rule  in  trials  and  judgments  on  the 
legality  of  captures. 

These  principles  were  opposed  at  all  points  to  those  which 
the  English  Admiralty  wished  to  see  prevail.  The  latter  held 
the  theory  that  the  blockade  exists  from  the  moment  that  it  is 
declared  by  an  act  of  the  Admiralty,  and  considered  as  contra- 
band even  grain,  and  all  that  could  be,  however  indirectly,  of 
use  to  the  belligerents.  France,  who  had  at  first  laid  down  these 
principles,  and  to  whom  the  armed  neutrality  brought  a  moral 
support  in  her  struggle  with  Great  Britain,  adhered  to  this  dec- 
laration. Her  allies,  Spain  and  the  Two  Sicilies,  imitated  her. 
Holland  even  began  a  war  with  England  to  maintain  the  rights 
of  the  neutral  Powers. 

The  Crimea  had  been  declared  independent  by  the  '1  reaty 
of  Kaiimadji;  and  since  1774  anarchy  had  been  the  normal 
state  of  the  peninsula.  The  Sultan,  deprived  by  the  treaty  of 
his  temporal  sovereignty,  continued,  as  successor  of  the  Khalifs, 
to  claim  the  religious  supremacy.  The  Mourzas,  abandoned 
to  themselves,  were  divided  into  two,  the  Russian  party  and  the 
Turkish  party,  which  in  turn  made  and  unmade  a  Khan  of  the 
Crimea.  Nearly  35,000  Christians,  Greeks,  Armenians  or  Cath- 
olics, disturbed  by  these  civil  discords,  quitted  the  ravine  of 
Tchoufout-Kale  and  the  wonder-working  sanctuary  of  the  As- 
sumption, dug  out  of  the  hard  rock,  and  emigrated  in  a  body  to 
the  territory  of  Russia.  In  1775,  the  Khan  Sahib-Ghirei,  who 
was  devoted  to  Russia,  was  overthrown  and  replaced  by  Devlet- 
Ghirei.  He  in  his  turn  was  dethroned  by  Catherine,  and  Cha- 
hin-Ghirei  reigned  in  his  stead,  but,  by  his  attempts  at  Euro- 
pean reforms,  caused  a  general  revolt.  Russia  interfered  ;  she 
proclaimed  the  union  of  the  empire  and  the  peninsula,  which  had 
been  since  the  13th  century  the  home  of  banditti,  and  whose 
gullies  had  so  often  sent  forth  Tatar  squadrons  to  bring  fire  and 
flame  to  Moscow.  Thus  Catherine  finished  the  work  of  the 
conqueror  of  Kazan,  of  Astrakhan,  and  of  Siberia,  by  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  last  kingdom  that  recalled  the  Mongol  yoke. 

The  two  military  States  which  formerly  disputed  the  steppes 
of  the  South,  the  Tatar  khanate  and  the  equally  warlike  republic 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


"3 


of  the  Zaporogues,  succumbed  almost  at  the  same  time.  In 
face  of  the  advent  of  civilization,  these  old  enemies  were  alike 
condemned  to  total  ruin.  Representatives  of  the  ancient  an- 
archy, children  of  the  desert  and  the  steppe,  knights  of  pillage 
and  of  prey,  they  constituted  a  dangerous  anachronism  and  an 
intolerable  anomaly  on  the  frontier  of  a  prosperous  Russia.  The 
Porte  protested  against  the  annexation  of  the  Crimea,  and 
threatened  a  rupture  ;  but  France,  which  had  formerly  excited 
the  war,  tried  this  time  to  smooth  matters.  Catherine  II.  recog' 
nized  the  good  offices  of  the  ambassador  Saint-Priest,  and  ad- 
dressed her  thanks  to  Louis  XVI.  The  Sultan  acknowledged 
the  cession  of  the  Crimea  and  of  the  Kuban  by  the  Treaty  of 
Constantinople  (1783). 

In  1784  the  Grand  Duke  Paul  and  his  wife,  under  the  names 
of  the  Count  and  Countess  du  Nord,  had  made  a  tour  in  the 
West,  and  received  a  brilliant  reception  in  Paris.  In  1787  the 
Comte  de  Segur,  thanks  to  the  good  terms  on  which  he  stood 
with  Potemkine,  and  the  latter's  desire  to  hasten  the  develop- 
ment of  Odessa,  by  trading  with  the  French  ports  on  the  Medi- 
terranean, concluded  a  treaty  of  commerce,  an  important  nego* 
tiation  in  which  all  his  predecessors  had  hitherto  failed. 


SECOND  WAR  WITH  TURKEY  (1787-1792)  AND  WAR   WITH  SWEDEN 

(1788-1790). 

All  this  time  Russia  maintained  a  close  alliance  with  Joseph 
II.,  whom  she  had  gained  over  to  her  ambitious  projects  in  the 
East.  The  Cabinet  of  St.  Petersburg  proposed  to  that  of  Vienna 
a  plan  for  the  dismemberment  of  Turkey.  "  There  ought  to 
exist  between  the  Russian,  Austrian,  and  Turkish  monarchies, 
an  intermediate  State,  independent  of  each,  which,  under  the 
name  of  Dacia,  should  comprehend  Moldavia,  Wallachia,  and 
Bessarabia,  and  have  a  sovereign  of  the  Greek  Church.  Russia 
was  to  acquire  Otchakof  and  the  seaboard  between  the  Bug  and 
the  Dnieper,  besides  one  or  two  isles  in  the  Archipelago.  Aus- 
tria was  to  annex  the  Turkish  provinces  on  her  frontiers.  If 
the  war  were  crowned  with  such  success  that  the  Turks  were  ex- 
pelled from  Constantinople,  the  Greek  empire  was  to  be  re-es- 
tablished in  complete  independence,  and  the  throne  of  Byzan- 
tium to  be  filled  by  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine  Pavlovitch, 
who  was  to  renounce  all  claims  to  the  throne  of  Russia,  so  that 
the  two  kingdoms  might  never  be  united  under  the  same  sceptre." 
Joseph  II.  accepted  these  propositions,  but  further  stipulated 
that  besides  Servia,  Bosnia,  and  the  Herzegovina,  the  Slav  prov« 


S  j  4  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  K  USS/A. 

inces  of  the  Turkish  empire,  he  should  have  the  Venetian  pos« 
sessions  in  Dalmatia.  Venice  was  to  receive  in  exchange  the 
Morea,  Candia,  and  Cyprus.  England,  France,  and  Spain  might 
share  in  the  spoils  of  Turkey.  Such  was  the  celebrated  scheme 
of  partition,  known  under  the  name  of  the  "  Greek  project," 
which  would  have  fulfilled  all  the  wishes  of  Voltaire,  who  had 
died  five  years  previously. 

The  attitude  of  Russia  became  each  day  more  threatening 
to  the  Porte.  The  second  son  of  Paul  I.  bore  the  significant 
name  of  Constantine,  and  had  been  given  a  Greek  nurse.  The 
Taurid,  annexed  by  Catherine  II.,  who  had  alleged  the  security 
of  the  empire  as  the  reason  of  her  act,  became,  in  the  hands  of 
Potemkine,  a  menace  to  the  Turks.  Already  Cherson  had  a 
formidable  arsenal ;  Sebastopol  was  being  built ;  there  was  a 
Russian  fleet  on  the  Black  Sea,  and  in  two  days  it  might  cast 
anchor  under  the  walls  of  the  Seraglio.  Catherine's  agents  con- 
tinued to  agitate  in  the  Roumanian,  Slav,  and  Greek  provinces, 
and  even  in  Egypt ;  she  was  preparing  to  incorporate  the  Cau- 
casus, and  had  taken  the  Tzar  of  Georgia  under  her  protection. 
The  triumphal  journey  made  by  the  Empress  in  1787  to  the  gov- 
ernments of  the  South  and  the  newly-conquered  provinces  ;  her 
interviews  with  the  King  of  Poland  and  Joseph  II. ;  the  military 
equipment  arrayed  by  Potemkine,  prince  of  the  Taurid  ;  the 
arches  with  the  famous  inscription,  "  The  way  to  Byzantium," 
still  further  alarmed  and  irritated  the  Porte.  France,  which  too 
well  knew  the  weakness  of  her  old  ally,  held  her  back  ;  but 
England,  and  even  Prussia,  acted  in  the  contrary  way,  in  order 
to  spite  Russia.  Sweden,  which  the  French  ambassador  also 
tried  to  moderate,  had  promised  to  aid  the  Sublime  Porte. 

In  the  summer  of  1787,  Boulgakof,  the  Russian  envoy,  re- 
ceived the  ultimatum  of  Turkey.  She  demanded  the  extradition 
of  Mavrocordato,  hospodar  of  Wallachia  ;  the  recall  of  the  Rus- 
sian consuls  of  Iassy,  Bucharest,  and  Alexandria  ;  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  protectorate  over  Heraclius,  the  vassal  of  the  Sultan ; 
the  right  of  the  Turks  to  inspect  all  Russian  vessels  navigating 
the  Straits  ;  and  the  admission  of  Turkish  consuls  or  commis- 
saries into  the  ports  of  the  Russian  territory.  On  the  refusal 
of  Boulgakof,  he  was  confined  in  the  Seven  Towers,  and  the 
Porte  declared  war. 

Russia  found  herself  taken  by  surprise.  Potemkine  had  not 
finished  his  preparations,  and  the  fleet  at  Sebastopol  had  suffered 
severely  from  a  recent  tempest.  His  despairing  letters  to 
Catherine  show  how  deeply  he  was  discouraged  ;  and  he  even 
spoke  of  evacuating  the  Crimea.  The  Empress  shows  in  her 
replies  a  manly  and  dauntless  soul ;  she  managed  to  prove  to 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


11$ 


her  favorite  that  the  evacuation  of  the  Peninsula  would  be  the 
certain  ruin  of  the  great  port  of  Sebastopol  and  the  infant  fleet 
which  had  been  created  at  such  cost.  Without  waiting  for  the 
enemy  it  was  necessary  to  assume  the  offensive,  and  march  on 
Otchakof  or  Bender.  "I  implore  you  to  take  courage  and 
reflect,"  she  writes  ;  "  with  courage  all  can  be  repaired,  even  a 
disaster." 

Catherine  had  more  than  one  enemy  to  cope  with.  Whilst 
Turkey  menaced  her  on  the  South,  Prussia  was  scheming  to 
force  Poland  to  cede  her  Dantzig  and  Thorn,  and  to  oblige  the 
two  other  co-partitioners  to  give  up  Gallicia.  Gustavus  III. 
likewise  abruptly  laid  claim  to  South  Finland,  declared  his  in- 
tention of  mediating  between  Russia  and  Turkey,  and,  without 
awaiting  a  reply  to  his  ultimatum,  laid  siege  to  Nyslot  and 
Fredericksham.  If  he  had  acted  promptly,  instead  of  wasting 
the  ardor  of  his  troops  against  the  fortresses,  he  might  have  con- 
quered Livonia,  then  defended  by  only  two  regiments,  or  sur- 
prised St.  Petersburg,  deprived  of  its  troops.  Although  the 
roar  of  the  Swedish  cannon  might  be  heard  in  the  Winter  Palace, 
Catherine  practised  the  courage  that  she  enjoined  on  Potemkine. 
She  declined  to  desert  her  capital,  and  assembled  in  a  few  days 
12,000  men  for  its  defence.  The  Swedish  fleet  was  arrested  on 
its  way  by  the  indecisive  battle  of  Hogland.  An  aristocratic 
revolt  broke  out  even  in  the  camp  of  Gustavus  III.,  who  was 
accused  by  his  officers  of  violating  his  own  constitution  by  de- 
claring war  without  consulting  the  Senate.  The  King  of  Sweden 
was  obliged  to  return  to  Stockholm,  where  he  punished  the 
conspirators,  and  by  a  new  coup  d'etat  gave  to  the  constitution 
a  still  more  monarchical  character.  A  diversion  of  the  Danes 
in  Sweden  forbade  his  assuming  the  offensive,  but  in  1789  he 
got  rid  of  them  through  the  threatened  intervention  of  England 
and  Prussia,  and  took  up  arms  against  Russia ;  his  fleet,  how- 
ever, suffered  considerable  loss.  Though  he  gained  the  naval 
battle  of  Svenska-Sund,  where  he  captured  30  vessels,  600 
cannon,  and  6000  men  (July  9,  1790),  he  found  himself  unable 
to  pursue  his  advantage,  which  was  compromised  by  a  second 
battle  on  the  same  seas.  The  affairs  of  France  gave  another 
direction  to  the  ideas  of  this  strange  prince.  He  hastened  to 
sign  the  Peace  of  Verela,  on  the  basis  of  statu  quo  ante  bellum, 
and  passed  from  open  hostilities  to  propositions  of  an  alliance 
with  Russia  against  the  Revolution. 

In  the  South,  Catherine  had  ready  in  1788  an  army  of 
40,000  men  to  protect  the  Caucasus,  30,000  to  defend  the 
Crimea,  and  70,000  under  Roumantsof  to  operate  on  the  Dnies- 
ter ;  while  80,000  Austrians,  under  Joseph  II.,  threatened  the 


1 1 6  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

line  of  the  Danube  and  the  Save.  The  Emperor  was  unfortu 
nate  in  this  war.  He  was  forced  to  fall  back  beyond  the  Save, 
and  was  defeated  at  Temesvar  ;  and  feeling  the  growing  dis- 
content of  Hungary,  where  the  people  had  been  irritated  by 
his  religious  innovations  and  the  nobles  by  encroachments  on 
their  privileges,  he  resigned  the  command  to  Laudon.  During 
this  time  Souvorof  defended  Kinburn  against  superior  forces, 
and  was  wounded  in  a  sortie.  Potemkine,  after  a  siege  which 
seemed  very  long  to  the  Prince  de  Ligne  {vide  his  correspon- 
dence), and  a  premature  attack  of  Souvorof,  took  the  strong  city 
of  Otchakof  by  assault,  with  a  loss  of  20,000  on  the  side  of  the 
Turks.  Catherine  II.,  accustomed  up  to  that  date  to  see  French 
volunteers  in  the  enemy's  camp  applauded  the  prowess  of  the 
Baron  de  Damas  and  Count  de  Bombelles,  who  fought  under 
her  own  standard.  Khotin,  on  the  Dniester,  the  key  of  Moldavia, 
had  been  taken  by  Soltykof. 

In  1789  Souvorof,  who  had  combined  with  the  Prince  of 
Coburg,  the  Austrian  general,  defeated  the  Turks  at  Fokchany 
(July  31st),  and  on  the  Rymnik  near  Martinestie  (September 
22nd).  In  the  latter  battle  100,000  Turks  gave  way  before 
25,000  Christians.  Souvorof  earned  by  this  victory  the  sur- 
name ^f  Rymnikski.  On  the  west  Laudon  took  Belgrade  and 
conquered  Servia ;  wnile  on  thv,  east  Potemkine  successfully 
besieged  Bender  and  subdued  Bessarabia. 

Freed  from  the  war  with  Sweden,  Catherine  II.  carried  on 
hostilities  with  the  Turks  with  greater  vigor  in  1790.  Ismail, 
on  the  northern  side  o-the  Danube,  was  formidable  from  its  posi- 
tion, and  was  defended  besides  by  40,000  men.  Koutouzof  had 
abandoned  all  hope  of  taking  it,  and  Potemkine  entreated  the 
impetuous  Souvorof  to  be  prudent.  Souvorof,  however,  carried 
ic  oy  assault,  with  .  loss  of  10,000  men  on  the  Russian,  and 
30,000  on  the  Turkish  side.  "  Never,"  he  writes  to  Potemkine, 
"  was  a  fortress  stronger  than  Ismail,  and  never  was  a  defence 
more  desperate  !     But  Ismail  is  taken." 

Joseph  II.  died;  and  his  successor,  Leopold  II.,  signed  a 
peace  at  Sistova,  which  only  gave  him  the  old  town  of  Orsova 
and  the  territory  of  the  Unna  (August  1791).  Catherine  still 
continued  the  war  for  some  months.  The  fall  of  Akkerman 
and  Kilia  made  her  mistress  of  the  mouths  of  the  Danube. 
Repnine,  with  40,000  men,  defeated  the  Grand  Vizier  with 
100,000  at  Matchin,  whilst  Ouchakof  dispersed  the  Turkish 
fleet  and  surrounded  Varna,  so  as  t  cut  off  the  Grand  Vizier's 
communications  with  Constantinople,  and  le  Sultan,  in  alarm, 
implored  peace.  On  the  ether  hand,  Catherine's  attention  was 
claimed  by  the  affairs  of  France  and  Poland.     By  the  separate 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


117 


Peace  of  Iassy,  she  retained  only  Otchakof  and  the  sea-board 
between  the  Bug  and  the  Dniester,  and  stipulated  for  guarantees 
in  favor  of  the  Danubian  Principalities  (January  1792).  This 
war  had  been  more  severe  than  the  preceding  one,  and  the 
success  more  disputed.  The  Turks,  thinking  themselves  on  the 
eve  of  being  driven  into  Asia,  managed  to  make  a  better  fight 
than  the  struggle  of  1767. 


SECOND   PARTITION   OF   POLAND:   DIET   OF    GRODNO — THIRD   PAR- 

TITION  :    KOSCIUSZKO. 

The  years  between  1773  and  1791  had  been,  for  Poland, 
years  of  valiant  efforts  and  needful  reforms.  Tyzenhaus  had 
founded  a  school  of  medicine  in  Warsaw,  the  old  universities  of 
Wilna  and  Cracow  had  been  re-organized,  and  a  number  of 
secondary  schools  created,  for  which  the  French  philosopher 
Condillac  had  compiled  a  manual  of  logic.  Stanislas  Ponia- 
tovski,  the  correspondent  of  Voltaire,  the  friend,  the  "  dear  son  " 
of  Madame  Geoffrin,  had  induced  French  and  Italian  artists  to 
visit  the  country.  National  historians  and  poets  adorned  with 
their  talents  the  last  years  of  independence.  It  was  a  real 
Polish  renaissance,  under  the  salutary  influence  of  the  universal 
French  genius.  "  Progress  was  rapid,"  says  Lelevel :  "  in  a  few 
years  no  more  was  seen  of  those  sombre  superstitious  practices, 
of  that  hideous  bigotry,  which  had  laid  its  bloody  finger  on  the 
piety  of  the  faithful ;  charlatanism  could  no  longer  seduce  them  ; 
they  spoke  with  a  smile  of  the  ancient  faith  in  sorcery  ;  the 
phenomena  of  nature  were  explained  in  a  reasonable  way  ;  hatred 
gave  place  to  fraternity  amongst  the  worshippers  at  different 
shrines.  The  characters  of  the  people,  degraded  for  centuries 
by  a  fatal  education,  became  elevafced  by  the  rational  instruction 
given  them  at  the  new  schools.  A  generation  of  men  grew  up 
strangers  to  the  fanaticism  and  corruption  of  the  preceding  age, 
possessed  with  a  passion  for  liberty  and  the  country,  whose 
crowning  glory  they  were  to  be.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  work 
accomplished,  we  have  only  to  compare  the  Zamoiski,  the 
Kosciuszkos,  the  Niemcevitches,  and  the  Dombrovskis  with  the 
men  of  the  first  partition.  Poland  wished  to  live,  and  made  a 
last  effort  for  her  regeneration. 

It  was  necessary  first  to  reform  the  hateful  and  anarchic 
constitution,  which  had  been  perfidiously  guaranteed  by  strangers, 
and  made  Poland  the  laughing-stock  and  prey  of  her  enemies. 
In  1788  the  Diet  of  Warsaw  established  a  committee  for  this 
purpose,  raised  the  number  of  the  army  to  60,000  men,  and  in* 


1 1 8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

posed  new  taxes.  Circumstances  seemed  favorable  to  the 
boldest  measures  :  if  France,  occupied  with  her  revolution,  could 
not  come  to  the  aid  of  Poland,  England  showed  herself  openly 
hostile  to  Russia ;  Turkey  and  Sweden  were  making  war  on  her, 
while  Prussia  sought  the  friendship  of  the  Poles,  persuaded 
Poniatovski  to  despise  the  Russian  guarantee,  and  negotiated  a 
treaty  of  alliance  offensive  and  defensive.  The  Diet  of  1791 
was  formed  into  a  confederation,  and,  deciding  this  time  by  a 
majority,  undertook  the  reform  of  the  constitution.  It  declared 
the  throne  hereditary,  and  nominated  the  house  of  Saxony  heirs 
to  Poniatovski ;  it  abolished  the  liberum  veto,  which  was  legal 
anarchy  and  organized  venality  ;  it  divided  the  legislative  power 
between  the  king,  the  senate,  and  the  Chamber  of  Nuncios ;  it 
centred  the  executive  power  in  the  king,  assisted  by  six  minis- 
ters, responsible  to  the  Chambers,  and  invested  him  with  the 
command  of  the  armies  and  the  appointment  of  the  officials. 
The  towns  obtained  the  right  of  electing  their  judges,  and  of 
sending  deputies  to  the  Diet.  None  dared  touch  the  rights  of 
nobles  over  their  peasants,  for  the  nobles  were  then  the  fighting 
part  of  the  nation,  the  "  legal  country  " ;  and  it  was  owing,  in 
fact,  to  their  patriotism  that  the  revolution  was  accomplished. 
All  the  Diet  could  do  was  to  sanction  beforehand  individual 
compacts  made  between  the  owners  and  their  serfs,  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  latter.  Such  was  the  memorable  Constitution  of 
the  3rd  of  May,  1791.  A  similar  transformation  which  took 
place  in  Sweden  at  the  royal  coup  d'etat  of  1772  had  saved  the 
monarchy  of  the  Vasas  from  dismemberment — would  the  parlia- 
mentary coup  cVetat  of  1791  save  Poland  ?  Would  the  Northern 
Courts,  which  thought  it  a  crime  on  the  part  of  the  French 
liberals  to  weaken,  by  the  constitution  of  the  same  year,  the 
powers  of  the  Bourbon  kings,  permit  the  Polish  patriots  to  re- 
store to  their  sovereign  the  essential  prerogatives  of  royalty,  the 
force  necessary  to  subdue  anarchy  within,  and  cause  the  nation 
to  be  respected  without  ? 

Catherine  II.  feared  to  protest  as  long  as  she  had  the  Turkish 
war  on  her  hands ;  but  when  the  Peace  of  Iassy  was  signed,  she 
received  at  St.  Petersburg  a  deputation  of  Polish  malcontents, 
who  regretted  the  liberum  veto,  and  were  alarmed  at  the  prom- 
ises made  to  the  peasants.  Amongst  these  unworthy  citizens, 
we  may  remark  Felix  Potocki,  the  hetman  Brianski,  Rjevuski, 
and  the  two  brothers  Kossakovski.  Catherine  II.  authorized 
them  to  form  the  Confederation  of  Targovitsa.  In  her  mani- 
festo of  the  18th  of  May,  1792,  she  reminded  men  that  Russia 
had  guaranteed  the  Polish  constitution,  and  signalized  the  re- 
formers of  the  3rd  of  May  as  accomplices  of  the  Jacobins.     En- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


119 


lightened  Russians  were  indignant  at  the  perfidious  language 
held  by  their  government.  Sdmen  Voronzof,  ambassador  in 
London,  writes,  "The  manifesto  had  no  right  to  enter  into  ridic- 
ulous eulogies  of  the  ancient  form  of  government,  under  which 
the  Republic  has  flourished  and  prospered  for  so  many  centuries. 
That  has  an  air  of  stupidity,  if  it  is  said  in  good  faith,  or  of  in- 
sulting contempt,  if  they  believe,  like  the  rest  of  the  world,  that 
it  is  the  most  absurd  and  detestable  of  all  governments."  The 
epithet  Jacobin  is  besides  singularly  inapplicable  to  the  Poles, 
who  wished  to  strengthen  the  royal  power. 

On  the  request  of  the  Confederates  of  Targovitsa,  80,000 
Russians  and  20,000  Cossacks  entered  the  Ukraine.  Ponia- 
tovski  turned  to  Prussia,  and  recalled  to  her  the  promises  of 
help.  Frederick  William  II.  replied  that  he  had  not  been  con- 
sulted about  the  change  of  the  constitution,  and  that  he  con- 
sidered himself  absolved  from  all  engagements.  He  was  already 
arranging  with  Russia  a  second  treaty  of  partition,  from  which 
Austria  was  to  be  excluded.  Austria  would  have  to  content 
herself  with  any  provinces  she  might  wrest  from  revolutionary 
France.  Russia  likewise  promised  to  help  her  to  acquire  Ba- 
varia, in  exchange  for  the  Low  Countries.  The  Poles,  deserted 
by  all,  tried  in  vain  to  resist  the  Russian  invasion.  Their  army 
of  Lithuania  retreated  without  fighting,  while  the  Polish  army 
properly  so-called  gave  battle  at  Zielence,  under  Prince  Joseph 
Poniatovski;  and  at  Dubienka  on  the  Bug,  under  Thaddeus 
Kosciuszko.  Then  King  Stanislas  pronounced  himself  ready  to 
accede  to  the  Confederation  of  Targovitsa,  thus  disavowing  his 
glorious  work  of  the  3rd  of  May.  The  reformers  Ignatius  Potocki, 
Kollontai,  and  Malakhovski  had  to  withdraw,  and  their  places 
in  the  council  of  the  king  were  taken  by  Confederates  of  Tar- 
govitsa, who  abolished  the  constitution.  The  liberum  veto  was 
re-established. 

The  Polish  patriots,  remaining  in  ignorance  of  the  treaty  of 
partition,  were  unconscious  of  half  their  misfortunes.  The  King 
of  Prussia  in  his  turn  crossed  the  western  frontier,  announcing 
in  his  manifesto  that  the  troubles  of  Poland  compromised  the 
safety  of  his  own  States,  that  Dantzig  had  sent  corn  to  the 
French  revolutionaries,  and  that  Great  Poland  was  infested  by 
Jacobin  clubs,  whose  intrigues  were  rendered  doubly  dangerous 
by  the  continuation  of  the  war  with  France.  The  King  of 
Prussia  affected  to  see  Jacobins  whenever  it  was  his  interest  to 
find  them.  The  part  of  each  of  the  Powers  was  marked  out  in 
advance.  Russia  was  to  have  the  eastern  provinces  with  a  popula- 
tion of  3,000,000,  as  far  as  a  line  drawn  from  the  eastern  frontier 
of  Courland,  which,  passing  Pinsk,  ended  in  Gallicia,  and  included 

Vol.  2  R  19 


1 2  o  MS  TORY  OF  R  USS/A. 

Borissof,  Minsk,  Sloutsk,  Volhynia,  Podolia,  and  Little  Russia. 
Prussia  had  the  long-coveted  cities  of  Thorn  and  Dantzig,  as 
well  as  Great  Poland,  Posen,  Gnezen,  Kalisch,  and  Czensto- 
chovo.  If  Russia  still  only  annexed  Russian  or  Lithuanian  terri- 
tory, Prussia  for  the  second  time  cut  Poland  to  the  quick,  and 
another  million  and  a  half  of  Slavs  passed  under  the  yoke  of  the 
Germans. 

It  was  not  enough  to  despoil  Poland,  now  reduced  to  a  terri- 
tory less  extensive  than  that  occupied  by  Russia  ;  it  was  neces- 
sary that  she  should  consent  to  the  spoliation — that  she  should 
legalize  the  partition.  A  diet  was  convoked  at  Grodno,  undei 
the  pressure  of  the  Russian  bayonets.  This  same  pressure,  en. 
forced  by  pecuniary  corruption,  had  been  exercised  in  the 
elections,  and  the  King  was  in  some  sense  dragged  to  Grodno 
to  preside  over  the  ruin  of  his  country.  Sievers,  Catherine's 
ambassador,  displayed  all  the  resources  of  an  unscrupulous 
diplomacy,  which  had  seduction,  intimidation,  and  violence  at 
its  service.  In  spite  of  the  support  of  bought  deputies  and 
Targovitsan  traitors,  he  gained  nothing  for  a  long  while.  At 
last  the  Diet,  in  the  deceitful  hope  of  dividing  its  enemies,  con- 
sented that  the  treaty  of  cession  to  Russia  should  be  ratified, 
but  showed  herself  more  stubborn  with  regard  to  Prussia. 
Sievers  was  forced  to  surround  the  Hall  of  Session  by  two  bat- 
talions of  grenadiers,  point  four  pieces  of  cannon,  and  install 
General  Rautenfels  in  a  chair  beside  the  King.  Twenty  days 
passed  without  his  being  able  to  extract  a  word  of  assent  from 
the  defenceless  assembly.  The  Poles  hated  the  Prussians  above 
everything.  Catherine  might  have  delivered  Great  Poland  from 
a  hated  yoke,  and  united  all  the  kingdom  under  her  authority, 
which  would  have  been  almost  gratefully  accepted.  Like  Semen 
Voronzof,  Sievers  felt  the  enormous  fault  that  was  committed 
by  aggrandizing  Prussia  at  the  expense  of  a  Slav  country.  Un- 
happily, his  instructions  were  positive.  In  order  to  triumph 
over  this  vis  inertice  he  had  four  deputies  carried  off  by  his 
dragoons,  and  closely  blockaded  the  assembly  in  the  hall  of 
deliberations.  The  day  of  September  23,  1793,  and  the  follow- 
ing night,  were  occupied  by  a  "  silent  sitting,"  while  the  King 
sat  on  his  throne,  and  the  deputies  on  their  benches,  gloomy  and 
dumb.  At  three  in  the  morning,  Rautenfels  left  to  fetch  his 
grenadiers ;  then  the  Marshal  of  the  Diet,  Bielinski,  put  the 
question.  AnkieVitch  proposed  to  the  nuncios  a  compromise 
which  would  give  satisfaction  to  Prussia,  while  leaving  to  a 
"  more  happy  posterity "  the  task  of  raising  up  the  country. 
Bielinski  asked  three  times,  without  taking  breath,  if  the  Diet 
authorized  the  delegate  to  sign  the   treaty.     No  one  replied : 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  x  2 1 

then  a  voice  was  heard  declaring  the  silence  to  be  equivalent  to 
consent.  It  was  four  o'clock  in  the  morning — the  nuncios  left 
the  hall  in  profound  grief,  with  streaming  eyes. 

On  the  1 6th  of  October,  the  Diet  concluded  with  Russia  a 
treaty  of  alliance,  or  rather  a  compact  of  slavery,  by  which 
Catharine  II.  guaranteed  "  the  liberty  of  the  republic  "  ;  that  is, 
all  the  abuses  of  the  old  constitution.  The  Polish  troops  who 
were  encamped  on  the  provinces  ceded  to  the  Empress,  received 
orders  to  swear  allegiance  to  her  ;  the  army  that  remained  to 
the  republic  consisted  only  of  15,000  men. 

By  her  fanaticism  and  electoral  corruption,  Poland  had 
merited  her  misfortunes  in  1772  ;  she  did  not  merit  those  of  1793. 
History  will  not  forget  the  generous  efforts  of  the  Czartoryskis, 
of  the  greater  part  of  the  nobility,  and  of  the  patriotic  "  third 
estate,"  for  the  reform  of  the  country. 

The  citizens  of  the  large  towns,  inspired  by  French  ideas, 
were  indignant  at  this  new  attempt  against  their  country.  The 
army,  still  25,000  men  strong,  had  received  with  fury  the  order 
to  disband.  Part  of  the  noblemen  shared  these  sentiments, 
while  the  others,  through  fear  of  new  taxes  or  social  reforms, 
resigned  themselves  to  foreign  rule.  The  country  proper  re- 
mained apathetic  and  indifferent.  Poland  expiated  cruelly  the 
harsh  servitude  that  her  prospolite,  in  the  full  current  of  eigh- 
teenth-century civilization,  had  allowed  to  weigh  on  the  rural 
classes.  George  Forster  writes  in  1791,  "The  Polish  nobles 
alone  in  Europe  have  pushed  ignorance  and  barbarism  so  far 
that  they  have  almost  extinguished  in  their  serfs  the  last  linger- 
ing sparks  of  thought."  This  is  one  of  the  extenuating  circum- 
stances invoked  by  Russian  or  German  historians  to  excuse  the 
dismemberment ;  the  lot  of  the  peasants  was  not  to  grow  worse 
under  Russian  domination,  and  was  to  improve  under  German 
rule. 

The  Polish  patriots  had,  however,  placed  all  their  hopes  on 
Thaddeus  Kosciuszko,  the  hero  of  Dubienka.  Born  in  1752, 
admitted  in  1764  to  the  military  school  founded  by  the  Czartory- 
skis, he  had  distinguished  himself  by  unceasing  labor.  In  Poland 
he  had  received  hard  lessons  in  equality  ;  he  had  seen  his  father 
assassinated  by  exasperated  peasants,  and  he  himself  had  been 
put  to  shame  by  the  powerful  noble  Sosnovski,  whose  daughter 
he,  a  simple  portionless  gentleman,  had  dared  to  ask  in  marriage. 

He  had  fought  in  the  American  War,  and  returned  invested 
with  the  republican  decoration  of  Cincinnati.  After  the  second 
partition  he  had  quitted  Warsaw  and  retired  into  Saxony,  where 
he  found  the  men  of  the  3rd  of  May — Malakhovski,  Ignatius 
Potocki,  the  ex-Chancellor  Kollontai,  Niemceviteh,  all  of  Poland 


•<22  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Jiat  was  honorably  devoted  to  liberty.  Sent  into  France,  he 
received  promises  of  help  from  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety, 
and  now  he  was  working  in  Dresden  to  organize  in  Poland  a 
vast  conspiracy.  He  was  soon  able  to  reckon  thousands  of 
nobles,  priests,  citizens,  and  disbanded  soldiers ;  but  in  spite  of 
the  number  of  the  conspirators,  General  Igelstrom,  who  com- 
manded in  Warsaw  for  Catherine  II.,  failed  to  seize  the  principal 
threads  of  the  plot. 

The  order  to  disband  the  army  hastened  the  explosion. 
Madalinski  refused  to  allow  the  brigade  that  he  commanded  to 
be  disarmed,  crossed  the  Bug,  threw  himse  f  on  the  Prussian 
provinces,  and  then  fell  back  on  Cracow.  s\t  his  approach,  this 
city,  the  second  in  Poland,  the  capital  of  the  ancient  kings,  rose 
and  expelled  the  Russian  garrison.  Kosciuszko  hastened  to  the 
scene  of  action,  and  put  forth  the  "  act  ot  insurrection,"  in 
which  the  hateful  conduct  of  the  co-partitioners  was  branded, 
and  the  population  called  to  arms.  Five  thousand  scythes  were 
made  for  the  peasants,  the  voluntary  offerings  of  patriots  were 
collected,  and  those  of  obstinate  and  lukewarm  people  were  ex- 
tracted by  force.  Igelstrom,  who  was  very  ureasy  in  Warsaw, 
detached,  nevertheless,  Tormassof  and  Denissof  against  Cra- 
cow. Deserted  by  Denissof,  Tormassof  came  up  near  Racla- 
vitsa  with  Kosciuszko  and  Madalinski,  the  number  of  whose 
troops — 4000  men,  one-half  of  whom  were  peasants — was  almost 
equal  to  his  own.  The  cavalry  of  the  nobles  gave  way  at  the 
first  shock,  and  fled,  announcing  everywhere  the  defeat  and 
capture  of  Kosciuszko,  but  the  steadiness  of  the  peasants  pre- 
served the  Polish  army,  and  twelve  guns  were  taken  from  the 
Russians.  To  punish  the  cowardice  of  the  cavalry  officers,  the 
dictator  took  off  the  dress  of  a  gentleman,  and  assumed  that  of 
a  peasant. 

The  news  of  this  success  soon  reached  Warsaw,  and  the 
representation  of  the  '  Cracovians,'  which  seemed  an  allusion  to 
the  events  in  Gallicia,  still  further  increased  the  excitement. 
Igelstrom  had  posted  his  regiments  so  injudiciously  that  their 
communication  could  easily  be  cut  off  by  the  Polish  regiments  in 
the  town.  The  arsenal  had  not  yet  been  delivered  to  the  Rus- 
sians, and  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  patriots. 

On  the  17th  of  April,  at  3  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  tocsin 
sounded  in  all  the  churches,  and  the  insurrection  broke  out. 
The  people,  excited  by  the  shoemaker  Kilinski  and  the  binder 
Kapostas,  fell  everywhere  on  the  isolated  detachments  of  Rus- 
sians. Igelstrom  found  himself  blockaded  in  his  palace,  unable 
to  communicate  with  the  scattered  regiments,  and  assailed  at 
once  by  the  citizens  and  the  Polish  troops.     On  the  18th  he  left 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  1 23 

the  town  with  great  difficulty,  abandoning  twelve  cannon,  4000 
killed  and  wounded,  and  2000  prisoners.  Wilna,  the  capital  of 
Lithuania,  followed  the  example  of  Warsaw,  and  expelled  the 
general  Arsenief. 

A  provisional  government  installed  itself  at  Warsaw,  and 
sent  a  courier  to  Kosciuszko.  It  was  composed  of  men  of  the 
3rd  of  May,  amongst  whom  Ignatius  Potocki  represented  the 
moderate  and  Kilinski  the  extreme  party.  King  Stanislas  re- 
mained in  his  palace,  respected  but  watched,  and  taking  no  ac- 
tive part  in  public  affairs,  of  which  he  was  kept  informed  only 
by  the  courtesy  of  the  government.  To  sum  up,  the  revolution 
of  the  17th  of  April,  1794,  had  a  national  and  monarchic  charac- 
ter like  the  Constitution  of  the  3rd  of  May,  1791.  It  sought  the 
support  of  France,  without  following  all  the  advice  of  the  Con- 
vention. A  tribunal  extraordinary  gave  some  satisfaction  to  the 
public  conscience  by  seeking  out  the  wretches  who  had  be- 
trayed their  country,  and  whose  connection  with  foreigners  had 
been  proved  by  the  papers  seized  at  the  Russian  embassy. 
Ankievitch,  the  hetmans  Zabiello  and  Ozarovski,  and  Kossa- 
kovski,  bishop  of  Livonia,  were  hung ;  the  brother  of  the  latter, 
Kossakovski,  hetman  of  Lithuania,  had  been  punished  at  Wilna. 

In  spite  of  the  agitation  caused  by  Kollontai  and  the  demo- 
crats, Kosciuszko  dared  not  settle  the  question  about  the  peas- 
ants, and  his  manifesto  of  the  7th  of  May,  1794,  was  not  put  in 
force.  He  feared  to  risk  the  alienation  of  the  military  class, 
without  gaining  the  rural  masses,  brutalized  by  centuries  of  op- 
pression ;  still  he  tried  to  win  the  clergy  and  the  orthodox  popu- 
lations, by  proclaiming  liberty  of  conscience,  and  the  equality  of 
different  religions  in  the  eye  of  the  law. 

The  Prussians,  however,  managed  to  take  Cracow,  which 
was  only  feebly  defended  by  its  commander.  The  government 
of  Warsaw  declared  war  against  Frederic  William  II.  The  peo- 
ple, attributing  the  loss  of  Cracow  to  treason,  rushed  to  the 
prisons,  and  promptly  executed  the  seven  men  who  were  de- 
tained there.  They  merited  the  fate  that  befell  them  ;  they  had 
been  amongst  the  promoters  of  the  Confederation  of  Targovitsa, 
or  agents  of  Russia.  Kosciuszko  condemned  this  bloody  justice, 
and  insisted  on  the  punishment  of  the  rioters,  but  at  the  same 
time  hastened  the  trial  of  the  guilty  prisoners. 

General  Zaiontchek  had  been  defeated  in  the  battle  of  Gol- 
kof  by  the  Russians,  and  the  Prussians  were  marching  on  the 
Vistula.  The  King  of  Prussia  had  quitted  his  army  on  the 
Rhine  in  order  to  direct  the  siege  and  bombardment  of  Warsaw. 
Catherine  affected  to  be  indignant  at  this  abandonment  of  the 
holy  war  against  the  Revolution,  for  the  common  cause  of  kings 


U4 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


and  religion.  The  pretensions  of  Prussia  to  Cracow  disturbed 
the  good  understanding  between  the  three  Powers  of  the  North, 
disquieted  Austria,  and  threatened  to  break  the  coalition  formed 
against  France.  Frederic  William,  greatly  disgusted  with  his 
Russian  ally,  General  Krouchtchof,  countermanded  the  order 
for  assault,  and  raised  the  siege,  being  recalled  to  his  own  do- 
minions by  an  insurrection  in  Great  Poland. 

The  Poles  had  hardly  time  to  congratulate  themselves  on  this 
success.  The  Russians  had  recaptured  Wilna ;  the  Austrians 
had  entered  Lublin.  Still  more  threatening  was  the  fact  that 
the  Russian  general,  Fersen,  had  crossed  to  the  right  bank  of 
the  Vistula  in  spite  of  Poninski,  and  was  advancing  to  meet 
Souvorof,  who  was  coming  up  with  the  army  of  the  Ukraine, 
and  had  already  beaten  Sierakovski  at  Krouptchitse  and  at 
Brest-Litovski.  If  the  two  Russian  armies,  each  of  which  was 
superior  to  the  whole  Polish  force,  managed  to  effect  a  junction, 
the  insurrection  was  crushed. 

Kosciuszko,  who  had  hastened  10  console  Sie'rakovski,  speed- 
ily returned  to  take  up  a  position  on  the  Vistula,  equidistant 
from  Warsaw  and  Lublin,  to  oppose  Fersen.  Around  him  were 
gathered  his  bravest  lieutenants — Potocki,  Kaminski,  Kollontai, 
Niemcevitch,  poet  and  general.  The  evening  before  the  battle, 
Kaminski  pointed  out  to  Niemcevitch  the  crows  that  were  flying 
on  their  right.  "  Remember  your  Livy,"  he  said  ;  "  it  is  a  bad 
omen."  "  A  bad  omen  for  the  Romans,  not  for  us,"  replied  the 
brave  poet.  On  the  ioth  of  October,  Krouchtchof  attacked  the 
van  of  the  Poles,  while  Fersen  ordered  Denissof  to  lead  the 
assault  on  the  right,  and  Tormassof  on  the  left.  The  Polish 
army,  shaken  by  a  violent  cannonade,  could  not  resist  the  charge 
of  the  bayonets.  They  gave  way,  and  twenty-one  guns  and  2700 
prisoners  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Russians.  All  the  gen- 
erals were  captured ;  Kosciuszko  had  been  carried  off  half-dead 
by  the  hetman  Denissof.  The  Russian  generals  treated  their 
prisoners  well,  and  the  officers  tried  to  console  the  wounded 
Niemcevitch  by  complimenting  him  on  the  '  Return  from  the 
other  World,'  a  poem  in  manuscript  which  they  had  found  in  his 
pocket  (1794.) 

Warsaw  was  horror-stricken  by  this  calamity.  Vavrjevski 
took  the  place  of  Kosciuszko,  but  proved  no  adequate  sub- 
stitute for  the  popular  hero  who  had  been  the  soul  of  the  revolt. 
Souvorof  had  already  appeared  before  Praga,  and  the  whole 
Russian  army  occupied  its  positions  to  the  sound  of  drums  and 
music.  The  impetuous  general  at  once  divided  his  army  into 
seven  columns.  The  Russian  soldiers,  on  the  eve  of  the  assault, 
put  on  white  shirts,  as  if  for  a  wedding,  and  the  holy  images 


BIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  1 2  5 

were  placed  at  the  head  of  the  columns.  At  3  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  4th  of  November  the  signal  was  given,  and  in 
an  instant  the  fosses  were  filled  and  the  ramparts  scaled.  "  The 
Poles,"  says  a  Russian  witness,  "  defended  themselves  like 
heroes,  with  desperate  recklessness."  Praga  suffered  all  the 
horrors  of  a  capture  by  assault.  In  vain  Souvorof  renewed  his 
orders  to  spare  the  inhabitants,  to  give  quarter  to  the  vanquished, 
not  to  slay  without  a  motive.  The  soldiers  were  too  much  ex- 
asperated against  the  Poles,  whom  they  believed  to  be  repub- 
licans, atheists,  accomplices  of  the  French  Jacobins,  murderers 
of  their  comrades,  disarmed  in  the  revolt  of  the  17th  of  April. 
The  dead  numbered  twelve  thousand  ;  the  prisoners  only  one. 
"  The  streets  are  covered  with  corpses ;  blood  flows  in  torrents," 
says  the  first  despatch  of  Souvorof.  The  massacre  of  Praga 
terrified  Warsaw,  which  was  ill  protected  by  the  width  of  the 
Vistula  from  the  Russian  bullets.  Souvorof  refused  to  treat 
with  Potocki  and  the  men  of  the  17th  April,  and  King  Stanislas 
had  to  act  as  mediator.  Souvorof  guaranteed  to  the  inhabitants 
their  property,  a  pardon,  and  passports  to  all  compromised  per- 
sons. He  made  his  entrance  into  Warsaw,  and  was  created 
Field-marshal  by  the  Empress.  The  King  was  sent  to  Grodno. 
The  third  treaty  of  partition,  forced  on  the  Empress  by  the 
importunity  of  Prussia,  and  in  which  Austria  also  took  part,  was 
put  in  execution.  Russia  took  the  rest  of  Lithuania  as  far  as 
the  Niemen  (Wilna,  Grodno,  Kovno,  Novogrodek,  Slonim,)  and 
the  rest  of  Volhynia  to  the  Bug  (Vladimir,  Loutsk,  and  Krem- 
enetz).  She  thus  reached  the  extreme  limit  of  the  countries 
formerly  governed  by  the  princely  descendants  of  Rurik,  except 
in  the  case  of  Gallicia,  for  the  empress,  whose  policy  had  aban- 
doned Poland  to  the  Germans,  had  allowed  Austria  to  take  Red 
Russia  after  the  first  partition.  Besides  the  Russian  territory, 
Russia  also  annexed  the  old  Lithuania  of  the  Jagellons,  and 
finally  acquired  Courland  and  Samogitia. 

Prussia  had  all  Eastern  Poland,  with  Warsaw ;  Austria  had 
Cracaw,  Sandomir,  Lublin,  and  Chelm.  Her  possessions  ex- 
tended towards  the  north,  as  if  to  rejoin  Warsaw.     (1795.) 

The  Polish  army  of  Vavrjevski  had  refused  to  be  included 
in  the  capitulation  of  Warsaw,  but  agitated  by  the  quarrels  of 
its  leaders,  and  weakened  by  want  of  discipline  and  desertion, 
it  was  obliged  to  accept  an  honorable  convention  at  Radochitse. 
The  officers  kept  their  swords,  and  obtained  passports  for  foreign 
travel.  The  prisoners  made  at  Maceiovitsy  had  been  divided 
amongst  the  governments  which  had  seized  the  places  of  their 
birth.  Madalinski  was  sent  to  Prussia  ;  Kollonta'i  and  Zaion- 
tcheck  to  Austria ;  Kosciuszko,  Kapostas,  Kalinski,  Potoki,  and 


j  2  6  J&S  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Vavrjevski  to  St.  Petersburg.  Poland  was  not  yet  dead :  out  of 
the  remains  of  the  army  dispersed  at  Radochitse,  Dombrovski  was 
to  form  the  famous  Polish  legions,  for  twenty  years  inseparable 
from  the  banners  of  the  French  Republic  and  the  Empire.  We 
shall  find  Dombrovski  in  Egypt,  Joseph  Poniatovski  at  Borodino. 
The  Poles,  defeated  at  Maceiovitsy,  will  meet  their  conquerors 
on  all  the  battle-fields  in  Europe — in  Italy,  in  Switzerland,  in 
Austria,  in  Prussia,  in  Poland,  in  Lithuania.  Napoleon  will 
satiate  their  vengeance  against  the  robber  Powers,  and,  two 
hundred  years  after  Vladislas,  will  land  the  Polish  troops  into 
the  holy  city  of  Moscow. 


CATHERINE    II.    AND    THE    FRENCH    REVOLUTION — WAR    WITH 

PERSIA. 

Just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  the  two  gov- 
ernments of  Louis  XVI.  and  Catherine  II.  had  entered  into 
negotiations  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  quadruple  alliance, 
including  Russia,  Austria,  and  both  houses  of  Bourbon,  which 
was  destined  to  keep  in  check  the  naval  pretensions  of  England 
and  the  encroachments  of  Prussia.  After  the  taking  of  the 
Bastile,  Catherine  understood  that  she  could  no  longer  look  to 
France,  which  was  then  occupied  with  her  internal  transfor- 
mation, for  support.  She  followed,  however,  events  in  Paris  with 
much  anxiety,  showed  the  most  lively  antipathy  to  the  new  prin- 
ciples, was  one  of  those  who  advised  the  flight  to  Varennes,  and 
fell  ill  at  the  news  of  the  21st  of  January.  The  correspondent 
of  Voltaire  and  Diderot  allowed  herself  to  be  carried  away  by 
terror  into  reaction.  She  caused  Russians  suspected  of  libera! 
ideas  to  be  watched,  and  their  letters  to  be  inspected  ;  she  mu* 
tilated  Kniajnine's  tragedy  of  '  Vadim  at  Novgorod,'  and  spok* 
of  having  it  burned  by  the  executioner ;  Radichtchef,  the  authoi 
of  the  '  Journey  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow,'  a  curious  book 
with  many  reflections  on  serfage,  was  dismissed  and  sent  to 
Siberia ;  Novikof  was  arrested  and  confined  in  Schlusselburg, 
his  libraries  and  his  printing  press  closed,  and  all  his  enterprises 
ruined.  She  dismissed  Genest,  the  French  ambassador,  and 
refused  to  recognize,  first  the  Constitution  of  1791,  and  then 
the  Republic ;  put  forth  an  edict  announcing  the  rupture  of 
diplomatic  relations  with  France  ;  forbade  the  Russian  ports  to 
the  tricolor  flag ;  expelled  all  French  subjects  who  refused  to 
swear  fidelity  to  the  monarchic  principle  ;  received  the  imigrts 
with  open  arms,  and  hastened  to  acknowledge  Louis  XVIII. 

In  1792  she  wrote  the  celebrated  note  on  the  restoration  of 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


<*7 


the  royal  power  and  aristocratic  privileges  in  France,  assuring 
every  one  that  10,000  men  would  be  sufficient  to  operate  a  coun- 
ter-revolution. She  encouraged  Gustavus  III.  (shortly  to  be 
assassinated  by  his  nobility,  at  a  masked  ball,  March  16,  1792) 
to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  crusade  against  democracy ; 
urged  England  to  aid  the  Count  of  Artois  in  a  scheme  for  a 
descent  on  France ;  and  stimulated  the  zeal  of  Austria  and 
Prussia,  In  spite  of  all  this,  though  she  had  many  times  con- 
sented to  negotiate  treaties  of  subsidies  and  promised  troops, 
she  took  care  never  to  engage  in  a  war  with  the  West.  "  My 
position  is  taken,"  she  said,  "  my  part  assigned  ;  it  is  my  duty 
to  watch  over  the  Turks,  the  Poles,  and  Sweden  "  (which  was 
reconciled  with  France  after  the  death  of  Gustavus  III.)  The 
punishment  of  the  Jacobins  of  Warsaw  and  Turkey  was  indeed 
more  easy,  and  certainly  more  lucrative  work.  Perhaps  we  must 
also  take  into  account  an  admission  that  she  made,  in  179 1,  to 
her  Vice-Chancellor,  Ostermann  :  "Ami  wrong?  For  reasons 
that  I  cannot  give  to  the  Courts  of  Berlin  and  Vienna,  I  wish  to 
involve  them  in  these  affairs,  so  that  I  may  have  elbow-room. 
Many  of  my  enterprises  are  still  unfinished,  and  they  must  be 
occupied  so  as  to  leave  me  unfettered."  She  excused  herself 
for  not  taking  part  in  the  anti-revolutionary  contest,  alleging  the 
war  with  Turkey  ;  and  when  obliged  to  hasten  the  Peace  of 
Iassy  on  account  of  the  revolution  of  the  3rd  of  May,  she  made 
the  Polish  war  another  excuse.  When  the  war  was  ended,  she 
pretended  to  excite  the  zeal  of  Souvorof  and  his  soldiers  against 
the  "  atheists"  of  the  West,  but  in  reality  only  dreamed  of  for- 
warding her  schemes  in  the  East.  Mohammed,  the  new  king  of 
Persia,  had  invaded  Georgia  and  burnt  Tiflis,  the  capital  of 
Heraclius,  Catherine's  protege.  The  Empress  sent  for  an  exiled 
brother  of  Mohammed  to  her  court,  and  ordered  Valerian  Zou- 
bof  to  conquer  Persia. 

In  reality  Catherine  had  been,  against  her  will,  more  useful 
to  France  than  to  the  coalition.  By  her  intervention  in  Poland 
and  her  projects  against  the  East,  she  had  raised  the  jealousy 
and  suspicions  of  Prussia  and  Austria.  She  took  care  to  play 
off  one  against  the  other ;  made  the  second  partition  with  Fred- 
eric William  in  spite  of  Austria ;  and  with  Francis  II.  the 
third  partition,  which  disgusted  Prussia.  She  contributed  in- 
directly to  agitate  and  dissolve  the  coalition,  whilst  the  Polish 
insurrection,  encouraged  by  France,  prevented  her  from  joining 
it.  She  died  on  the  6th-i7th  November,  1796,  aged  67  years. 
No  sovereign  since  Ivan  the  Terrible  had  extended  the  fron- 
tiers of  the  empire  by  such  vast  conquests.  She  had  given 
Russia  for  boundaries  the  Niemen,  the  Dniester,  and  the  Black 
Sea. 


128  BIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS14L 


CHAPTER  XL 

PAUL    I. 

(17th  November,  1796 — 24th  March,  1801.) 

Peace  policy  :  accession  to  the  second  coalition — Campaigns  of  the  Ionian 
Islands,  Italy,  Switzerland,  Holland,  and  Naples — Alliance  with  Bona- 
parte :  the  League  of  Neutrals,  and  the  great  scheme  against  India. 


PEACE   POLICY  :    ACCESSION   TO  THE  SECOND  COALITION. 

Paul  I.  was  forty-two  years  of  age  when  he  ascended  the 
throne.  He  was  intelligent  and  had  some  natural  gifts,  but  his 
character  had  been  soured  by  the  close  dependence  in  which  he 
had  been  held  by  his  mother,  who  had  even  deprived  him  of  the 
education  of  his  children,  and  forbade  him  to  appear  before  the 
arm}',  by  the  humiliations  forced  on  him  by  the  favorites,  and 
by  Ti.e  isolation  to  which  he  was  abandoned  by  the  courtiers,  in 
their  haste  to  pay  court  to  the  risen  sun.  The  mystery  sur- 
rounding his  father's  death  troubled  and  disquieted  him.  There 
was  a  touch  of  Hamlet  in  Paul  I.  Like  Peter  III.,  his  taste  for 
military  minutiae  amounted  to  a  mania.  He  had  a  high  idea  of 
his  authority,  and  was  born  a  despot.  He  is  supposed  to  have 
uttered  the  famous  saying,  "  Know  that  the  only  person  of 
consideration  in  Russia  is  the  person  whom  I  address  at  the 
moment  that  I  am  addressing  him."  He  hated  the  Revolution 
with  a  blind  hate,  unknown  to  Catherine  II.  Many  of  his 
eccentricities  of  conduct  may  be  explained  by  his  desire  always 
to  act  in  the  contrary  way  to  his  mother,  whom  he  secretly  ac- 
cused of  having  usurped  his  crown.  Without  being  cruel,  he 
caused  much  unhappiness,  being  as  prompt  to  chastise  as  to 
pardon,  and  was  as  prodigal  of  exiles  to  Siberia  as  of  unex- 
pected favors. 

He  began  by  abolishing  the  edict  of  Peter  III.  about  the 
succession,  and  re-established  the  monarchic  principle  of  in- 
heritance by  primogeniture,  from  male  to  male  in  the  direct  line. 
He  profited  by  his  mother's  obsequies  to  cause  the  remains  of 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  US  SI  A .  129 

his  father  to  be  exhumed,  and  to  render  the  same  honors  to  both 
coffins  in  the  Church  of  the  Fortress.  Alexis  Orlof  had  to 
march  in  procession  by  the  coffin  of  his  father,  and  to  carry  his 
crown.  He  did  not  punish  the  favorites  of  his  mother,  but  re- 
moved them  from  about  his  own  person,  giving  his  confidence 
to  Rostopchine  and  the  austere  Araktche'ef.  Bezdorodko  he 
confirmed  in  his  place  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

To  re-establish  the  principle  of  authority,  which  he  thought 
had  been  shaken  in  Russia,  he  revived  the  rude  old  manners, 
compelled  the  carriages  of  his  subjects  to  halt  when  he  passed, 
and  made  women  as  well  as  men  salute  him  by  throwing  them* 
selves  on  their  knees  in  the  mud  or  snow.  He  issued  decrees 
full  of  minute  provisions,  forbidding  the  wearing  of  round  hats, 
frock-coats,  waistcoats,  high  collars,  large  neckties,  and  everything 
which  savored  of  Jacobinism.  He  banished  from  the  official  lan- 
guage the  words  "  society,"  "  citizen,"  and  other  terms  which  his 
mother  had  delighted  to  honor.  He  made  the  censorship  of 
the  theatre  and  the  press  more  rigorous  than  ever,  forbade  the 
importation  of  European  books  and  music,  forced  the  Russians 
who  were  travelling  abroad  to  return,  and  forbade  any  French- 
man not  provided  with  a  passport  signed  by  the  princes  of  the 
house  of  Bourbon  to  enter  his  territory. 

In  the  last  years  of  Catherine  grave  abuses  must  have  crept 
into  the  army,  and  no  one  but  an  emperor  with  a  genius  for  war 
could  accomplish  the  reforms  which  were  necessary  if  Russia 
were  to  keep  pace  with  Western  improvements  in  tactics  and  in 
arms.  Paul  unfortunately  took  up  the  reforms  in  his  usual 
narrow  spirit.  He  had  a  craze  for  Prussian  methods,  and  abol- 
ished the  Russian  national  uniform,  convenient,  soldier-like,  and 
well  suited  to  the  climate  as  it  was.  The  Russians  did  not 
recognize  themselves  in  their  Prussian  costume,  with  pigtails, 
powder,  shoe-buckles,  shoes,  gaiters,  heavy  caps,  and  uncom- 
fortable hats.  Old  Souvorof  shook  his  head  and  said,  "  There  are 
powders  and  powders  !  Shoe-buckles  are  not  gun-carriages,  nor 
pigtails  exactly  bayonets  ;  we  are  not  Prussians,  but  Russians." 
This  epigram  was  punished  by  the  exile  of  the  martial  humorist 
to  his  village  of  Koutchevskoe.  There  he  could  ride-a-cock- 
horse  with  the  small  boys  of  the  district,  ring  the  church  bells, 
read  the  epistle,  and  play  the  organ  to  his  heart's  content.  Paul 
showed  more  method  and  common-sense  when  he  tried  to  reform 
the  finances,  which  had  been  impaired  in  the  last  year  of 
Catherine  by  endless  wars,  the  dishonesty  of  officials,  the  luxury 
of  the  court,  and  the  prodigal  gifts  bestowed  on  favorites. 

As  to  foreign  affairs,  Paul's  early  policy  was  peaceful.  He 
discontinued  the  levying  of  recruits  in  his  mother's  manner— 


130 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


that  is,  in  the  proportion  of  three  men  to  every  five  hundred 

souls.  He  withdrew  his  forces  from  Persia,  and  left  Georgia  to 
its  own  levies.  To  the  Poles  he  even  showed  some  pity,  re- 
called prisoners  from  Siberia,  transferred  King  Stanislas  from 
Grodno  to  St.  Petersburg,  visited  Kosciuszko  at  Schliisselburg, 
and  set  him,  with  the  other  captives,  at  liberty.  He  bade  Koly- 
tchef,  Envoy  Extraordinary  at  Berlin,  tell  the  King  of  Prussia 
that  he  was  neither  for  conquest  nor  aggrandizement.  He 
dictated  a  circular  to  Ostermann,  which  was  to  be  communicated 
to  foreign  Powers,  in  which  he  declared  that  Russia,  and  Russia 
alone,  had  been  engaged  in  ceaseless  wars  since  1756  ;  that 
these  forty  years  of  war  had  exhausted  the  nation ;  that  the 
humanity  of  the  Emperor  did  not  allow  him  to  refuse  his  beloved 
subjects  the  peace  for  which  they  sighed  ;  that  nevertheless, 
though  for  these  reasons  the  Russian  army  would  take  no  part 
in  the  contest  with  France,  "  the  Emperor  would  remain  as 
closely  as  ever  united  with  his  allies,  and  oppose  by  all  possible 
means  the  progress  of  the  mad  French  republic,  which  threatened 
Europe  with  total  ruin,  by  the  destruction  of  her  laws,  privileges, 
property,  religion,  and  manners."  He  refused  all  armed  assist- 
ance to  Austria,  then  alarmed  by  Bonaparte's  victories  in  Italy ; 
he  recalled  the  vessels  sent  by  Catherine  to  join  the  English 
fleet,  to  blockade  the  coasts  of  France  and  Holland.  He  even 
received  the  overtures  made  by  Caillard,  the  French  envoy  in 
Prussia,  to  the  Russian  envoy  Kolytchef,  and  caused  the  latter 
to  observe  "  that  the  Emperor  did  not  consider  himself  at  war 
with  France,  that  he  had  done  nothing  to  harm  her,  that  he  was 
disposed  to  live  in  peace  with  her,  and  that  he  would  persuade 
his  allies  to  finish  the  war,  offering  to  this  end  the  mediation  of 
Russia." 

Difficulties  soon  arose  between  France  and  Russia.  The 
treaty  of  Campo  Formio  had  given  the  Ionian  Islands  to  the 
French,  who  thus  acquired  a  position  threatening  to  the  East, 
and  a  greater  influence  over  the  Divan.  The  directorate  author- 
ized Dombrovski  to  organize  Polish  legions  in  Italy.  Panine  at 
Berlin  intercepted  a  letter  from  the  Directorate  to  the  French 
envoy,  in  which  there  was  a  question  of  the  restoration  of  Poland, 
under  a  prince  of  Brandenburg.  Paul,  on  his  side,  took  into 
his  pay  the  corps  of  the  Prince  of  Conde*,  and  stationed  10,000 
tmigtes  in  Volhynia  and  Podolia,  He  offered  an  asylum  to  Louis 
XVIII.,  who  was  expelled  from  Brunswick,  established  him  in 
the  ducal  palace  of  Mittau,  and  gave  him  a  pension  of  200,000 
roubles.  The  news  that  a  French  expedition  was  being  mys- 
teriously organized  at  Toulon  caused  him  to  tremble  for  the  se- 
curity of  the  coasts  of  the  Black  Sea,  which  were  immediately 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  131 

put  into  a  state  of  defence.  The  capture  of  Zagourski,  Russian 
Consul  at  Corfu  ;  the  reduction  of  Malta  by  Bonaparte,  and  the 
arrival  at  St.  Petersburg  of  the  banished  knights,  who  offered 
Paul  the  protectorate  of  their  order,  with  the  title  of  Grand 
Master  ;  the  invasion  of  the  Swiss  territory  by  the  Directorate ; 
the  expulsion  of  the  Pope  and  the  proclamation  of  the  Roman 
Republic — all  precipitated  the  rupture. 

Paul  further  concluded  an  alliance  with  Turkey,  which  was 
irritated  at  the  invasion  of  Egypt,  with  England,  Austria,  and  the 
kingdom  of  Naples.  It  was  thus  that,  owing  to  Bonaparte's 
double  aggression  against  Malta  and  Egypt,  Russia  and  Turkey 
were  forced,  contraiy  to  all  traditions,  to  make  common  cause. 
Paul  undertook  that  his  fleet  should  join  the  Turkish  and  English 
squadrons,  to  furnish  a  body  of  troops  to  make  a  descent  in 
Holland,  and  another  to  conquer  the  Ionian  Islands,  besides  a 
great  auxiliary  army  for  the  campaigns  in  Switzerland  and  Italy. 


CAMPAIGN  OF  THE  IONIAN  ISLANDS,  ITALY,  SWITZERLAND,  HOLLAND, 

AND  NAPLES. 

In  the  autumn  of  1798  a  Turco-Russian  fleet  captured  the 
French  garrisons  of  the  Ionian  Islands.  The  King  of  Naples 
caused  the  territory  of  the  Roman  Republic  to  be  invaded,  but 
Championnet  conducted  the  Neapolitan  troops  back  to  their 
native  land,  entered  Naples  himself,  proclaimed  the  Partheno- 
pean  Republic,  and  made  St.  Januarius  work  his  annual  miracle. 

The  Russian  army  in  Holland  was  put  under  the  orders  of 
Hermann,  that  of  Switzerland  under  those  of  Rymski-Korsakof 
while,  at  the  request  of  Austria  and  the  suggestion  of  England, 
the  victor  of  Fokchany  and  Rymnik  was  appointed  to  the  Aus- 
tro-Russian  army  of  Upper  Italy.  Paul  I.,  flattered  by  this  mark 
of  deference,  recalled  Souvorof  from  his  village  exile.  "  Souvorof 
has  no  need  of  laurels,"  wrote  the  Tzar,  "  but  the  country  has 
need  of  Souvorof." 

The  Directorate,  taken  by  surprise,  having  not  only  France 
to  protect,  but  likewise  the  Batavian,  Helvetian,  Cisalpine,  Ligu- 
rian,  Roman,  and  Neapolitan  republics — that  is  to  say,  the  vast 
line  of  country  that  extends  from  the  Zuyder  Zee  to  the  Gulf  of 
Tarento — had  very  inferior  numbers  to  oppose  to  those  of  the 
coalition  :  in  Holland  20,000  men,  under  Brune,  against  40,000 
Anglo- Russians,  under  York  and  Hermann ;  on  the  Rhine, 
50,000,  under  Bernadotte  and  Jourdan,  against  the  70,000  of  the 
Archduke  Charles;  in  Switzerland,  30,000,  under  Massdna, 
against  Hotze  and  Bellegarde,  who  had  70,000  Austrians  in  th* 


«32 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


Vorarlberg  and  the  Tyrol ;  in  Upper  Italy,  50,000,  under  Scherer, 
against  the  60,000  Austrians  of  Kray ;  at  Naples,  30,000,  under 
Macdonald,  against  30,000  English,  Russians,  and  Sicilians. 

At  last  the  Russians  arrived  in  Switzerland,  40,000  in  number, 
under  Rymski-Korsakof ;  in  Italy,  to  the  number  of  40,000, 
divided  into  two  corps,  that  of  Rosenberg  and  that  of  Rebinder, 
with  Souvorof  in  chief  command.  Consequently  the  French  had 
only  170,000  to  oppose  to  350,000  allies. 

In  his  passage  to  Vienna,  Souvorof  refused  to  communicate 
his  schemes  to  Thugut,  the  acting  minister,  and  to  receive  the 
advice  of  the  Hof-Kriegsrath,  the  Aulic  council  of  war.  When 
the  Austrians  questioned  him  as  to  his  plan  of  campaign,  he 
showed  a  blank  paper  signed  by  the  Emperor  Paul.  His  object 
he  declared,  was  Paris,  where  he  would  restore  the  throne  and 
the  altar.  To  his  soldiers  he  repeated  the  formulae  of  his  mili- 
tary catechism  :  "  A  sudden  glance,  rapidity,  impetuosity  !  The 
van  of  the  army  is  not  to  wait  for  the  rear !  Musket  balls  are 
fools  ;  bayonets  do  the  business  !  The  French  beat  the  Aus- 
trians in  columns,  and  we  will  beat  them  in  columns."  He 
scoffed  at  the  slowness  and  pedantry  of  the  Hof-Kriegsrath. 
"  Parades,  manoeuvres  !  too  much  confidence  in  their  talents  1 
To  know  how  to  conquer,  well ;  but  to  be  always  beaten  is  not 
smart !  The  Emperor  of  Germany  desires  that,  when  I  have 
to  give  battle  next  day,  I  should  first  address  myself  to  the 
Court  of  Vienna.  The  accidents  of  war  change  rapidly ; 
cannot  be  tied  down  to  a  fixed  plan.  Fortune  flies  like 
lightning :  one  must  seize  opportunity  by  the  forelock ;  it 
never  come  back." 

The  Austrians  had  already  defeated  Jourdan  at  Stokach 
(March  29),  and  Scherer  at  Magnano  (April  9).  Masse'na,  al- 
though victorious  at  the  first  battle  of  Zurich,  had  been  obliged 
to  retreat  behind  the  Limmat  and  the  Linth,  on  the  heights  of 
the  Albis.  On  the  28th  of  April,  Austria,  believing  that  where 
the  French  were  concerned  she  might  violate  with  impunity  the 
law  of  nations,  had  assassinated  their  plenipotentiaries  at  Ras- 
tadt.  Souvorof,  on  his  arrival  at  Verona,  had  taken  the  com- 
mand of  the  allied  forces. 

The  Austro-Russians  numbered  about  90,000 ;  the  French  no 
more  than  30,000,  under  Moreau,  which  included  the  Italian 
legions  and  three  or  four  thousand  men  of  the  Polish  legions. 
These  Poles  represented  the  Slav  element  in  the  French  army, 
as  the  Russians  did  in  that  of  the  coalition.  This  quarrel  of 
kinsmen,  which  began  at  Maceiovitsy  and  Warsaw,  was  to  be 
continued  on  the  bank  of  the  Adda.  Souvorof  surprised  the 
passage  of  this  river  at  Cassano,  penetrated  the  centre  of  Mor« 


one 
the 
will 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


133 


eau,  and  surrounded  the  right  wing ;  Serrurier  and  about  3000 
men  were  made  prisoners  (April  28). 

Moreau  retired  into  Piedmont ;  imperilled  next  by  the  loss 
of  Ceva  and  of  Turin,  he  was  forced  to  take  refuge  in  the  Alps. 
Souvorof  made  his  entry  into  Milan  amidst  the  acclamations  of 
the  nobles,  the  priests,  the  excited  populace,  of  all  the  enemies 
of  the  Revolution,  and  abolished  the  Cisalpine  Republic.  In- 
stead of  attacking  the  15,000  men  who  remained  with  Moreau 
Souvorof,  harrassed  by  the  advice  of  the  Hof-Kriegsrath,  amused 
himself  by  laying  siege  to  Mantua,  Alessandria,  and  the  citadel 
of  Turin. 

Macdonald  hastened  from  the  end  of  the  Peninsula  with  the 
army  of  Naples.  After  having  opened  communications  with 
Moreau,  he  conceived  the  project  of  throwing  himself  between 
Alessandria  and  Mantua,  and  separating  the  two  principal  bodies 
of  the  allied  army.  He  defeated  the  Austrian s  on  the  Tidona, 
but  came  up  with  Souvorof  on  the  Trebbia.  The  battle  lasted 
three  days  (i7th-i9th  June) :  the  ferocity  of  the  French,  Rus- 
sians, and  Poles  rendered  it  extremely  bloody.  On  the  17th  the 
French  only  amounted  to  28,000  against  40,000 ;  the  next  day 
24,000  against  36,000  :  numbers  were  sure  to  tell.  Each  army 
lost  ten  or  twelve  thousand  men,  and  Macdonald  hastened  to  re- 

i'oin  Moreau  in  the  gorges  of  the  Alps.  Mantua  had  capitulated, 
n  the  south  the  Anglo-Russians,  allied  with  the  banditti  of 
Cardinal  Ruffo  and  of  the  brigand  Fra  Diavolo,  expelled  the 
French  garrisons  from  Neapolitan  territory.  A  frightful  reaction 
flooded  the  streets  of  Naples  with  blood,  and  2000  houses  were 
burned  by  the  bandits  and  lazzaroni  (July  1799). 

The  Directorate  made  a  last  effort  to  reconquer  Italy.  The 
army  of  the  Alps,  increased  by  new  reinforcements  to  40,000 
men,  was  placed  under  the  command  of  General  Joubert,  who 
had  said  to  his  young  wife,  "  You  will  see  me  either  dead  or 
victorious."  Joubert  wished  to  relieve  Alessandria,  and  to  pre- 
vent this  Souvorof  marched  quickly  up  with  70,000  men,  and 
gave  him  battle  at  Novi.  Joubert  was  killed  at  the  beginning  of 
the  action.  The  two  armies  each  lost  8000  men  (August  15), 
and  the  remains  of  the  Polo-French  troops  fell  back  into  the 
mountains  of  Genoa.  Italy  was  lost  to  France  ;  the  Cisalpine, 
Roman,  and  Neapolitan  republics  were  extinguished. 

The  Russians  and  Austrians  separated  after  the  victory. 
The  German  generals  could  not  endure  the  vanity  of  Souvorof ; 
Thugut  was  even  less  friendly  towards  him  ;  the  new  Prince 
Italiiski  imagined  that  he  had  fought  for  the  restoration  of 
sovereigns,  and  not  for  the  private  ambition  of  the  house  of 
Austria.    He  wished  therefore  to  establish  a  national  govern* 


«34 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


ment  in  Piedmont,  and  to  reorganize  the  Piedmontese  array 
under  his  special  standard.  Now,  Thugut  cared  nothing  about 
the  restoration  of  Victor-Amadeus,  or  of  the  Pope.  The  mis- 
understanding increased  ;  it  was  decided  that  Souvorof  should 
abandon  Italy,  and  join  Rymski-Korsakof  in  Switzerland,  so  as 
to  defend  the  snowy  mountains  of  Helvetia  with  a  purely  Rus- 
sian army.  Souvorof,  who  already  saw  himself  in  Franche- 
Comte'  and  on  the  route  to  Paris,  accepted  the  work. 

In  Switzerland,  after  the  first  battle  of  Zurich,  Massena  had 
retired  to  the  heights  of  the  Albis,  behind  the  line  formed  by  the 
Linth,  the  lake  of  Zurich,  and  the  Limmat.  He  had  been  op- 
posed in  his  movements  by  the  Archduke  Charles,  with  25,000 
men  ;  by  Korsakof,  with  28,000  Russians  ;  and  by  Hotze,  with 
27,000  Austrians.  The  Archduke  had  to  evacuate  Switzerland 
and  lay  siege  to  Philippsburgh,  and  was  to  be  replaced  by  Sou- 
vorof with  20,000  men.  It  would  be  a  critical  moment  for  the 
allies  when  the  Archduke  should  have  evacuated  Switzerland 
and  Souvorof  should  not  yet  have  arrived,  and  this  was  the 
moment  eagerly  awaited  by  Massena.  He  had  now  60,000  men 
against  55,000,  who  were  to  be  raised  by  the  army  of  the  Prince 
of  Italy  to  75,000.  On  the  25th  of  September  he  surprised  the 
passage  of  the  Limmat  near  to  Die'tikon,  and  cut  the  Russian 
army  in  two.  The  Russian  grenadiers  who  defended  Dietikon 
fought  till  their  powder  was  exhausted,  refused  to  surrender,  and 
died  in  their  ranks.  The  other  corps  were  defeated  successively. 
Korsakof,  forced  back  upon  Zurich,  caused  the  gates  to  be 
closed.  In  the  night  Massdna  sent  him  envoys,  who  were  capt- 
ured or  repulsed  by  musketry.  On  the  26th  of  September 
Korsakof  formed  an  immense  square  of  15,000  men  and  attacked 
the  French.  "  This  dense  and  impenetrable  mass,"  says  Major 
Masson,  "  made  the  enemy  retire  at  every  point."  But  this 
policy,  which  had  been  successful  against  the  Poles  and  the 
Turks,  was  certain  to  fail  against  the  French.  Decimated  by 
the  sharpshooters  and  light  cavalry,  shaken  by  a  general  charge 
of  cavalry,  and  infantry  with  bayonets,  the  Russians  had  to  fall 
back  on  Zurich,  leaving  the  field  of  battle  covered  with  dead, 
and  with  wounded  who  pressed  icons  and  relics  to  their  breasts. 
They  had  lost  6000  men,  their  guns,  the  army  treasure,  the  of- 
ficial papers,  and  sacred  plate.  Korsakof  fled  to  Eglisau.  Then 
Masse'na  made  Oudinot  attack  Zurich  and  the  Swiss  legion,  and 
took  all  the  Russian  stores  and  baggage.  It  was  here  that  the 
celebrated  Lavater  perished,  killed  by  a  drunken  Swiss  soldier. 
On  the  25th  Soult,  on  his  side,  had  crossed  the  Linth,  and  de- 
feated Hotze,  who  was  killed.  The  allies  retreated  in  disorder 
on  Schaffhausen,  with  a  loss  of  10,000  prisoners,  of  twenty 
Austrian  cannons,  and  nearly  all  the  Russian  artillery. 


HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA.  135 

Such  was  the  victory  of  Zurich.  "  Bonaparte,"  says  M. 
Duruy,  "  has  no  more  glorious  battle,  for  the  victories  which 
insure  the  salvation  of  a  country  are  worth  more  than  those 
which  only  add  to  her  power  or  the  glory  of  her  chiefs." 

Souvorof  had,  however,  arrived  by  dint  of  forced  marches  at 
Taverno,  near  Bellinzona.  The  Austrian  administration  had 
neglected  to  gather  together  a  sufficient  number  of  sumpter 
mules  for  the  passage  of  the  Alps,  and  Souvorof  lost  four  precious 
days  in  impressing  them  from  the  surrounding  country.  He 
only  reached  the  St.  Gothard  on  the  21st,  and  crossed  it  under 
unheard-of  difficulties,  and  after  a  sharp  skirmish  with  some 
French  detachments  stationed  on  the  mountains.  He  plunged 
at  once  into  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Reuss,  enclosed  betweep 
mountains  so  precipitous  that  the  road  many  times  crosses  the 
torrent,  notably  at  the  Pont  du  Diable. 

"In  this  kingdom  of  terrors,"  writes  Souvorof  in  his  de- 
spatch to  Paul,  "  abysses  open  beside  us  at  every  step,  like 
tombs  awaiting  our  arrival.  Night  spent  among  the  clouds, 
thunder  that  never  ceases,  rain,  fog,  the  noise  of  cataracts,  the 
breaking  of  avalanches,  enormous  masses  of  rocks  and  ice 
which  fall  from  the  heights,  torrents  which  sometimes  carry 
men  and  horses  down  the  precipices,  the  St.  Gothard,  that 
colossus  who  sees  the  mists  pass  under  him, — we  have  sur- 
mounted all,  and  in  these  inaccessible  spots  the  enemy  has  been 
forced  to  give  way  before  us.  Words  fail  to  describe  the 
horrors  we  have  seen,  and  in  the  midst  of  which  Providence 
has  preserved  us."  The  impression  produced  on  the  native  of 
the  great  Russian  plains  by  the  grandeur  of  the  Swiss  Alps  is 
graphically  sketched  in  the  curious  '  Narrative  of  an  Old  Sol- 
dier,' the  memoirs  of  an  eye-witness  and  companion  of 
Souvorof. 

The  tenacious  Lecourbe,  charged  by  Masse'na  to  retard  the 
Russian  advance,  had  only  11,000  men,  but  with  them  he  ex- 
pected to  "  crush  Souvorof  in  the  mountains."  At  Hospital  he 
disputed  the  passage  of  the  Reuss,  cannonaded  the  Russians 
till  his  ammunition  was  exhausted,  threw  his  artillery  into  the 
stream,  went  down  to  defend  the  Pont  du  Diable,  which  he 
blew  up,  and  finally  fell  back  on  Seedorf,  where  he  broke  down 
the  bridge.  Souvorof  crossed  the  precipitous  chain  of  Scha- 
chenthal,  and  only  reached  Altdorf  and  Multenthal  on  thft 
26th,  having  lost  2000  men  on  the  way.  It  was  here  that  he 
heard  of  the  disaster  of  Zurich  and  the  flight  of  Korsakof,  and 
that  he  grasped  the  full  horror  of  his  situation,  lost  in  the  heart 
of  the  mountains,  betrayed  by  the  carelessness  of  his  allies,  en- 
closed in  Multenthal  as  it  were  in  a  mouse-trap,  surrounded  00 


136  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

all  sides  by  a  victorious  army,  with  numbers  superior  to  his 
own.  On  his  rear  Gudin  had  again  occupied  the  Upper  Reuss ; 
on  the  road  to  Stanz  Lecourbe  had  taken  up  a  position  at 
Seedorf ;  on  that  of  Schwitz  Massena  had  concentrated  the 
corps  of  Mortier  ;  on  that  of  Glarus  Molitor  Was  posted,  whom 
Soult  was  about  to  reinforce.  This  was  the  most  splendid  mo- 
ment of  Souvorof's  life.  His  heroic  retreat  is  more  glorious 
than  his  victories  in  Italy  gained  with  superior  forces  ;  no 
general  in  such  a  desperate  situation  has  shown  more  indomit- 
able energy  than  this  little  man  nearly  seventy  years  old. 
He  resolved  to  cross  Mont  Bragel  in  sixty  five  centimetres  of 
snow,  and  to  cut  away  by  the  Kleinthal  and  the  route  to  Glarus. 
His  rear-guard,  left  in  the  Multenthal,  resisted  for  three  days 
the  assaults  of  Massena,  thus  protecting  the  retreat  of  the  army, 
while  the  vanguard  took  Glarus,  and  forced  Molitor  back  on 
Naefels.  There  Molitor  checked  the  Russians,  who  were 
obliged  to  retire  on  the  Rindskopff,  on  whose  glaciers  many 
hundreds  of  men  perished.  Thence  they  succeeded  in  gaining 
Ulanz,  Coire,  and  Feldkirch.  Souvorof,  with  the  gallant  remnant 
of  his  army,  took  up  his  winter-quarters  between  the  Iller  and  the 
Lech. 

On  the  27th  of  August  the  Anglo- Russians  had  disembarked 
on  the  Texel,  and  captured  the  Dutch  fleet,  but  the  Batavian 
populations  remained  faithful  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  on 
the  /9th  of  September  Brune,  reinforced,  defeated  the  allies  at 
Bergen.  He  then  fought  them  in  four  other  battles,  besieged 
them  in  Zyp,  and  made  Alkmaer  and  the  Duke  of  York  capitu- 
late (October  18).  The  Anglo- Russian  army  obtained  leave  to 
march  out.  The  remains  of  the  Russian  forces  re-embarked  ; 
but  being  coldly  received  in  England,  they  were,  so  to  speak, 
"  interned  "  in  the  islands  of  Jersey  and  Guernsey. 

Massena  and  Brune  had  saved  the  frontiers  of  the  republic, 
prepared  the  ruin  of  the  coalition,  and  deprived  the  coup  d'etat 
of  Brumaire  of  all  excuse. 


ALLIANCE  WITH  BONAPARTE  :   THE  LEAGUE  OF  NEUTRALS,  AND  THE 
GREAT  SCHEME  AGAINST  INDIA. 

Paul  L,  Souvorof,  and  all  Russia  accused  Austria  of  treason. 
The  Emperor  Francis,  by  the  advice  of  England,  humbly  con- 
sented to  explain  the  misunderstanding  which  had  lost  Kor- 
sakof,  and  almost  lost  Souvorof.  The  Tzar,  a  little  softened, 
suspended  the  retreat  of  the  Russian  army,  but  insisted  in  re- 
turn on  the  recall  of  Thueut,  and  the  restoration  of  the  Italian 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  1 37 

princes  to  their  reconquered  States.  Austria  could  not  relish 
this  disinterested  policy,  or  renounce  her  plans.  Thugut, 
threatened  with  the  loss  of  his  post,  labored  to  complete  the 
rupture.  It  was  insinuated  to  the  Russian  Emperor  that  the 
maintenance  of  his  troops  in  Bohemia  constituted  a  heavy 
charge  for  the  hereditary  States.  The  irritable  Tzar  learnt  in 
addition  that  a  conflict  had  taken  place  at  the  siege  of  Ancona. 
This  maritime  station  was  besieged  by  the  Austrians,  Russians, 
and  Turks  ;  the  Austrian  general  secretly  concluded  a  capitula- 
tion with  the  French,  stipulated  that  his  soldiers  alone  should 
be  admitted  into  the  fortress,  and  caused  the  Turkish  and 
Russian  flags,  which  had  been  fixed  on  the  ramparts  beside  his 
own,  to  be  removed.  This  insult  to  his  banner  completed  the 
exasperation  of  Paul. 

The  same  diplomatic  results  followed  after  Bergen  and 
Zurich  ;  a  quarrel  with  England,  which  was  likewise  accused  of 
treason,  soon  succeeded  to  the  dispute  with  Austria.  Bonaparte, 
who  promptly  destroyed  at  Marengo  all  the  fruits  of  Souvorof's 
victories,  who  appeared  to  the  Russians  almost  as  an  avenger 
against  the  perfidy  of  the  Austrians — Bonaparte,  whose  despotic 
principles  reassured  the  Tzar,  and  whose  glory  blinded  him, 
cleverly  turned  to  account  the  irritation  of  Paul.  He  began  by 
declaring  that  he  returned,  without  exchange,  all  the  Russian 
prisoners,  newly  equipped  at  the  expense  of  France.  Paul  was 
the  more  touched  by  this  action,  as  Austria  and  England  had 
refused  to  exchange  the  Russian  soldiers  for  the  French  prison- 
ers whom  they  held.  Negotiations  were  opened  by  means  of 
Berlin,  and  the  French  and  Russian  agents  at  Hamburg.  Bona- 
parte took  care  to  attack  the  Tzar  on  his  weak  sides,  his  gloomy 
dignity  and  his  affectation  of  chivalrous  disinterestedness.  He 
offered  to  indemnify  the  King  of  Sardinia,  to  re-establish  the 
Pope  in  Rome,  and  to  recognize  Paul  as  Grand  Master  of  Malta, 
and  owner  of  the  island.  Malta  was  at  that  time  blockaded  by 
the  English,  who  in  September  1800  made  themselves  masters 
of  it.  Their  refusal  to  relinquish  this  important  post  to  Paul  I. 
greatly  irritated  him.  Disturbed  by  the  maritime  tyranny  of 
Great  Britain,  which  had  declared  the  ports  of  France  and  her 
allies  in  a  state  of  siege,  and  recommenced  her  system  of 
vexations  against  the  neutral  ships,  Paul  renewed  the  famous 
Act  of  Armed  Neutrality,  and  sought  the  support  of  Prussia, 
Sweden,  and  Denmark.  Bonaparte  hastened  to  express  his 
assent  to  the  Russian  principles.  During  this  time  General 
Sprengtporten,  who,  under  pretext  of  taking  command  of  the 
Russian  prisoners  in  Paris,  had  been  sent  on  a  secret  mission, 
was  followed  there  by  Kolytchef,  charged  with  more  precise  in- 


s 3&  HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA. 

structions.  Kolytchef  was  particularly  to  persuade  Bonaparte 
to  take  the  title  of  King  himself,  and  to  make  it  hereditary  in 
his  family,  as  the  only  means  "  of  changing  the  revolutionary 
principles  which  have  armed  all  Europe  against  France."  On  this 
point  the  First  Consul  was  only  too  well  disposed.  Negotiations 
began  on  the  following  bases  :  France  was  to  respect  the  integrity 
of  Naples  and  Wurtemburg,  to  re-establish  the  King  of  Sardinia 
in  Piedmont,  while  reserving  Savoy  for  herself,  and  to  retain  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  subject  to  an  understanding  with  Russia, 
for  the  indemnification  of  the  depossessed  princes.  It  was  under 
the  Franco-Russian  mediation  that  secularization  was  to  take 
place  in  Germany. 

Paul,  with  his  usual  impetuosity,  was  possessed  by  a  daily  in- 
creasing passion  for  Bonaparte  ;  he  surrounded  himself  with  his 
portraits,  drank  his  health  publicly,  and  abruptly  ordered  Louis 
XVIII.  to  quit  Mittau. 

It  was  then  that  the  two  sovereigns  arranged  together  the 
great  scheme  that  had  for  its  object  the  complete  overthrow 
of  the  English  rule  in  India.  France  still  occupied  Egypt  ;  she 
was  authorized  to  keep  garrisons  in  the  southern  ports  of  the 
kingdom  of  Naples ;  her  agents  traversed  Arabia  and  the  Indian 
States.  Paul  on  his  side,  to  secure  himself  a  basis  of  operations, 
ordered  his  troops  to  the  Caucasus,  and,  at  the  request  of  the 
son  of  Heraclius,  pronounced  Georgia  to  be  united  to  the  empire. 
The  expedition  against  English  India  was  to  be  undertaken  by  two 
different  ways — the  command  of  a  Russian  army,  destined  for 
the  Upper  Indus  by  way  of  Khiva  and  Bokhara,  was  given  to 
Knorring.  Orlof-Denissof,  Ataman  of  the  Don  Cossacks,  re- 
ceived letters  from  Paul,  desiring  him  to  begin  his  movement  on 
Orenburg.  "  The  English  are  preparing  for  an  attack  by  land 
and  sea  against  me  and  my  allies,  the  Swedes  and  the  Danes  ; 
I  am  ready  to  receive  them.  But  it  is  necessary  to  be  before- 
hand with  them,  and  to  attack  on  their  most  vulnerable  point, 
and  on  the  side  were  they  least  expect  it.  It  is  three  months' 
march  from  Orenburg  to  Hindostan,  and  it  takes  another  month 
to  get  from  the  encampments  of  the  Don  to  Orenburg,  making 
in  all  four  months.  To  you  and  your  army  (yo'isko)  I  confide  this 
expedition.  Assemble  therefore  your  men,  and  begin  your  march 
to  Orenburg;  thence,  by  whichever  of  the  three  routes  you  prefer, 
or  by  all,  you  will  go  straight  with  your  artillery  to  Bokhara, 
Khiva,  the  river  Indus,  and  the  English  settlements  in  India. 
The  troops  of  the  country  are  light  troops,  like  yours  ;  you  will 
therefore  have  over  them  all  the  advantage  of  your  artillery.  Pre- 
pare everything  for  this  campaign.  Send  your  scouts  to  recon- 
noitre and  repair  the  roads.    All  the  treasures  of  the  Indies  shall 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  139 

be  your  recompense.  .  .  .  Such  an  enterprise  will  cover  you  with 
immortal  glory,  will  secure  you  my  goodwill  in  proportion  to 
your  services,  will  load  you  with  riches,  give  an  opening  to  our 
commerce,  and  strike  the  enemy  a  mortal  blow"  (i2th-24th 
January). 

"  India,  to  which  I  send  you,  is  governed  by  a  supreme  head 
(the  Great  Mogul)  and  a  quantity  of  small  sovereigns.  The 
English  possess  commercial  establishments  there,  which  they 
have  acquired  by  means  of  money,  or  conquered  by  force  of  arms. 
The  object  of  this  campaign  is  to  ruin  these  establishments,  to  free 
the  oppressed  sovereigns,  to  put  them  with  regard  to  Russia  in  the 
same  state  of  dependence  that  they  now  are  with  regard  to  the 
English,  finally  to  secure  for  ourselves  the  commerce  of  those 
regions.  .  .  ."  (i2th-24th  January).  "  Be  sure  to  remember 
that  you  are  only  at  war  with  the  English,  and  the  friend  of  all  who 
do  not  give  them  help.  On  your  march  you  will  assure  men  of 
the  friendship  of  Russia.  From  the  Indus  you  will  go  to  the 
Ganges.  On  the  way  you  will  occupy  Bokhara,  to  prevent  her 
going  over  to  China.  At  Khiva  you  will  deliver  some  thousands 
of  my  subjects  who  are  kept  prisoners  there.  If  you  need  in- 
fantry, I  will  send  it  to  follow  in  your  footsteps.  There  is  no 
other  way,  but  it  will  be  best  if  you  can  be  sufficient  for  your- 
selves" (i3th-25th  January).  "  The  expedition  is  urgent  ;  the 
earlier  the  better"  (7th-ic)th  February). 

Such  were  the  instructions,  a  little  premature  and  inconse- 
quent, that  Paul  sent  daily  with  incomplete  maps  to  Orlof-Denis- 
sof.  These  letters  abound  in  contradictions.  He  promised  his 
Cossacks  all  the  wealth  of  the  Indies,  and  forbids  them  to  attack 
princes  who  remain  neutral ;  in  the  same  line  he  enjoins  them 
to  free  the  princes,  and  to  place  them  under  the  sovereignty  of 
Russia.  To  go  from  the  Don  to  the  Volga,  from  the  Oural  to 
the  Indus,  from  the  Indus  to  the  Ganges,  is  far  from  being  an 
easy  undertaking,  and  he  entrusts  the  Ataman  besides  with  mis- 
sions to  Khiva  and  Bokhara.  These  letters  of  Paul,  published 
by  the  Rousskala  Starina*  made  some  noise  in  the  Russian  press 
at  the  beginning  of  the  present  quarrels  with  England. 

This  plan  really  began  to  be  executed,  as  we  see  by  the 
'  Memoirs  of  the  Ataman  Denissof,'  nephew  of  the  late  Ataman, 
published  in  the  same  collection.  He  assembled  eleven  polks 
of  Cossacks,  and  succeeded  in  crossing  the  Volga  on  the  floating 
ice,  in  the  midst  of  unheard-of  difficulties.  This  vanguard  of  the 
great  Cossack  army  had   reached  the  left  bank   of  the  river, 

*  Rousskaia  Starina  of  1873,  vol.  viii.  p.  209.  See  also  vol.  xii.  p.  237, 
and  vol.  xv.  p.  216  ;  the  Ncvoie  Vrhnia  of  the  I4th-i6th  Nov.  1876  ;  and 
the  Univers  Pittoresque,  by  Dubois  de  Jancigny,  p.  105. 


140 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


when  in  March  1801  its  chief  suddenly  received  the  news  of  th* 
death  of  the  Emperor,  and  the  order  to  return. 

The  other  expedition  was  to  be  composed  of  35,000  French 
and  35,000  Russians,  at  whose  head  Paul,  with  noble  and 
chivalrous  feeling,  insisted  on  placing  the  victor  of  Zurich, 
Massdna.  The  35,000  French  were  to  start  from  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine,  descend  the  Danube  in  ships  furnished  them  by  the 
Austrian  Government,  embark  at  the  mouth  in  Russian  ships, 
which  would  transport  them  to  Taganrog,  then  go  up  the  Don  as 
far  as  Piati-Isbanskai'a,  cross  the  Volga  at  Tzaritsyne,  drop 
down  as  far  as  Astrakhan,  and  thence,  navigating  the  Caspian  in 
Russian  vessels,  arrive  at  Asterabad  on  the  Persian  shore, 
where  the  35,000  Russians  would  await  them.  The  combined 
army  was  then  to  march  by  way  of  Herat,  Ferah,  and  Kandahar 
to  the  Upper  Indus,  and  begin  the  war  against  the  English. 
This  project,  on  the  margin  of  which  are  scrawled  the  criticisms 
of  Bonaparte  and  the  reply  by  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  enters 
into  the  most  minute  details.  Twenty  days  were  reckoned  to 
descend  the  Danube,  fifty-five  days  to  reach  Asterabad,  and 
forty-five  to  arrive  at  the  Indus — 120  days  in  all  from  the  Rhine 
to  Scinde.  Aerosticians,  artificers,  and  a  body  of  savants  such 
as  went  to  Egypt,  were  to  accompany  the  expedition.  The 
French  Government  was  to  send  precious  objects,  the  produce 
of  the  national  industry. 

**  Distributed  with  tact  amonj.  the  princes  of  these  countries, 
and  offered  with  the  grace  aid  courtesy  natural  to  the  French," 
says  the  Russian  note,  "these  g' ts  will  enable  these  races  to 
form  the  highest  idea  of  the  magnificence  of  French  industry 
and  power,  and  will  in  consequence  open  an  important  branch 
of  commerce."  To  inspire  the  people  with  the  most  exalted 
conception  of  France  and  Russia,  brilliant  fetes  were  to  be 
given,  accompanied  by  such  military  evolutions  "  as  celebrate  in 
Paris  great  events  and  memorable  epochs."  Paul  I.  seemed  to 
be  reconciled  to  the  anniversaries  of  the  Revolution. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Paul  ever  doubted  the  success  of 
this  hazardous  expedition.  Bonaparte  naturally  made  this  ob- 
jection :  "  Supposing  the  combined  army  to  be  reunited  at 
Asterabad,  how  do  you  propose  that  it  should  get  to  India 
through  countries  almost  barbarous,  and  without  any  resources, 
having  to  march  a  distance  of  300  leagues,  from  Asterabad  to 
the  frontiers  of  Hindostan  ? "  The  Tzar  replied  that  these 
countries  were  neither  barbarous  nor  arid,  that  caravans 
traversed  them  every  year  and  made  the  journey  in  thirty-five 
or  forty  days,  and  that  in  1739  and  1740  Nadir  Shah  had 
marched  through  the  reverse  way,  from  Delhi  to  the  Caspian, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


14c 


Paul  ended  by  saying,  "  The  French  and  Russian  armies  are 
eager  for  glory  ;  they  are  brave,  patient,  and  unwearied ;  their 
courage,  their  perseverance,  and  the  wisdom  of  their  leaders  will 
know  how  to  surmount  all  obstacles.  .  .  .  What  a  really  Asiatic 
army  did  in  1739  and  1740,  we  cannot  doubt  that  an  army  of 
French  and  Russians  can  do  to-day  ! " 

On  the  Continent  Paul  did  his  best  to  make  Prussia  declare 
against  England.  The  League  of  Neutrality  made  the  British 
Government  so  uneasy,  that,  notwithstanding  the  peace,  Admirals 
Parker  and  Nelson  seized  the  Danish  Fleet  (Naval  Battle  of 
Copenhagen,  2nd  of  April,  1801).  An  event  still  more  extraor- 
dinary broke  up  the  coalition,  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Paul  in 
the  night  of  the  23rd-24th  of  March,  1801  (nth  or  12th  March, 
O.S.).     On  the  24th  of  March  Alexander  was  proclaimed. 

England  could  not  help  being  satisfied  by  the  simultaneous 
news  of  the  destruction  of  the  Danish  fleet  and  the  terrible 
death  of  the  Tzar,  who  was  the  soul  of  the  coalition.  In  France 
the  consternation  was  great.  Bonaparte,  who  saw  the  downfall 
of  his  vast  projects,  could  not  contain  himself.  He  caused  the 
following  lines,  full  of  rage  and  hate  against  England,  to  be 
printed  in  the  Monitcur,  making  himself  the  mouthpiece  of  an 
absurd  suspicion  :  "  It  is  for  history  to  clear  up  the  secret  of  this 
tragic  death,  and  to  say  what  national  policy  was  interested  w. 
provoking  such  a  catastrophe." 


142  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ALEXANDER  h  :  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  (1801-1825). 

First  war  with  Napoleon  :  Austerlitz,  Eylau,  Friedland,  awd  Treaty  of  Tllsi* 
— Interview  at  Erfurt:  wars  with  England,  Sweden,  Austria,  Turkey,  and 
Persia — Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw:  causes  of  the  second  war  with  Napo- 
leon— The  "Patriotic  War"  :  battle  of  Borodino;  burning  of  Moscow; 
destruction  of  the  Grand  Army — Campaigns  of  Germany  and  France  ; 
treaties  of  Vienna  and  Paris — Kingdom  of  Poland:  congresses  at  Aix-la* 
Chapelle,  Carlsbad,  Laybach,  and  Verona. 


FIRST  WAR  WITH  NAPOLEON  :   AUSTERLITZ,  EYLAU,  FRIEDLAND,  AND 

TREATY  OF  TILSIT. 

With  the  new  reign  began  a  new  foreign  policy.*  Immedb 
ately  after  his  accession,  Alexander  addressed  a  letter  of  recon* 
ciliation  to  George  III.  He  ordered  the  embargo  on  English 
vessels  to  be  raised,  and  the  sailors  who  had  been  captured  to 
be  set  at  liberty ;  he  also  entreated  Admiral  Parker  to  cease 
hostilities  against  Denmark.  Those  acts  announced  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  League  of  Neutrality.  On  the  17th  of  July,  1801, 
a  compromise  was  agreed  on  by  which  England  consented  to 
define  more  strictly  what  articles  should  be  understood  to  be 
contraband  in  war,  admitted  that  a  blockade  must  be  effective 
before  it  could  be  considered  binding,  and  gave  up  boarding 
foreign  men-of-war. 

The  concessions  of  Russia  were  of  a  much  graver  kind.  They 
consisted  in  the  abandonment  of  the  principles  of  the  armed  neu- 
trality, and  the  disavowal  of  the  naval  policy  of  Catherine  II. 
and  Paul  I.  Alexander  allowed  that  the  flag  was  not  to  cover 
the  merchandise ;  vessels  of  war  were  not  to  have  the  right  to 
hinder  the  inspection,  nor  even  the  seizure  of  the  merchant 
ships  that  they  escorted.     England  restored  the  islands  taken 

•  A  short  time  after  Alexander's  accession,  Pahlen,  Zoubof,  and  Panine, 
the  "  men  "  of  the  24th  of  March,  1801,  had  been  successively  disgraced. 
Alexander  surrounded  himself  with  young  men, — Czartoryski,  Novossiltsof, 
Strogonof,  and  Kotchoubey,  who  were  supposed  to  be  English  partisans. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


143 


from  the  Swedes  and  Danes.  Denmark  and  Sweden,  consider- 
ing the  common  cause  betrayed,  confined  themselves  to  making 
peace  with  Great  Britain  without  touching  the  disputed  points. 

Alexander  affected,  nevertheless,  a  desire  to  remain  on  good 
terms  with  France,  and  instructed  Count  Markof  to  continue  at 
Paris  the  negotiations  begun  by  Kolychef.  Affairs  had  gone  on 
so  rapidly  under  Paul,  that  the  two  States  had  arranged  an  of- 
fensive alliance  without  ever  having  concluded  a  formal  treaty 
of  peace.  The  First  Consul  was  greatly  irritated  at  the  abrupt 
change  in  the  Russian  policy.  On  the  other  hand,  the  instruc- 
tions given  by  Alexander  to  Markof  breathed  defiance  towards 
Bonaparte,  who,  "  by  flattering  the  deceased  Emperor,  had 
chiefly  in  view  the  use  of  him  as  a  weapon  against  England,  and 
who  doubtless  only  thought  of  gaining  time." 

Bonaparte,  however,  sent  Duroc  to  represent  him  at  Alex- 
ander's coronation.  He  received  Count  Markof  courteously, 
assuring  him  of  his  esteem  for  Alexander,  but  he  made  him  un- 
derstand that  the  situation  was  no  longer  the  same,  and  that 
Russia  had  not  the  right  to  exact  so  much  from  France.  "  My 
obligations  towards  the  Emperor  Paul,  whose  great  and  mag- 
nanimous ideas  corresponded  perfectly  with  the  views  of  France, 
were  such  that  I  should  not  have  hesitated  to  become  the  lieu- 
tenant of  Paul  I."  He  complained  that  Russia  insisted  on  such 
important  trifles  as  that  of  the  "  iittle  kinglet  "  of  Sardinia,  and 
that  she  wished  to  treat  France  "  like  the  republic  of  Lucca." 

In  his  demands  in  favor  of  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  Alexan- 
der did  not  feel  that  he  had  the  support  of  England,  who,  in  nego- 
tiating herself  for  peace,  had  advised  Cornwallis  "  not  to  em- 
barrass himself  with  questions  foreign  to  purely  British  inter- 
ests." On  the  8th  of  October,  then,  a  treaty  was  signed 
between  France  and  Russia,  and  on  the  nth  of  October  there 
was  a  secret  convention,  of  which  the  principal  articles  were  as 
follow  : 

1.  The  common  mediation  of  the  two  Powers  for  the  Ger- 
manic indemnities  stipulated  by  the  Peace  of  Luneville.  2.  An 
agreement  about  Italian  affairs.  3.  The  mediation  of  Russia 
for  the  establishment  of  a  peace  between  France  and  Turkey. 
4.  The  neutrality  of  Naples,  and  the  evacuation  of  her  territory 
by  the  French,  after  the  latter  had  evacuated  Egypt.  5.  The 
indemnity  of  the  King  of  Sardinia  "  according  to  present  cir- 
cumstances." 6.  A  suitable  indemnity  to  the  sovereigns  of 
Bavaria,  Wurtemberg,  and  Baden.  7.  Independence  and  neu- 
trality of  the  Ionian  Isles. 

The  two  parties  also  bound  themselves  to  do  all  that  lay  in 
their  power  to  strengthen  the  general  peace,  to  re-establish  the 
Vol.  2  R  20 


/44  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

equilibrium  of  the  different  parties  of  the  world,  and  to  insure 
liberty  of  navigation. 

The  treaty  of  the  8th  of  October  followed  that  of  Lunevihe 
between  France  and  Austria,  and  prepared  that  of  Amiens,  with 
England.  It  secured  the  dictatorship  of  France  and  Russia  in 
the  regulation  of  continental  affairs.  Common  mediation  for 
the  indemnities,  and  joint  action  in  Italian  affairs, — these  were 
the  principles  that  the  late  Tzar  would  have  wished  to  see  pre- 
vail ;  but  circumstances  were  changed.  Out  of  regard  for  Paul 
I.,  Bonaparte  might  have  renounced  Piedmont,  Naples,  and  Italy, 
but  Paul  I.  fought  for  the  liberty  of  the  seas,  threatened  Eng- 
land in  the  Baltic  and  India,  and  assured  the  revenge  of  the 
French  against  Great  Britain.  The  first  act  of  Alexander  had 
been,  on  the  contrary,  to  desert  his  allies,  and  seek  a  reconcilia- 
tion with  England. 

In  the  regulation  of  German  affairs,  the  will  of  France  nat- 
urally preponderated.  If  Bonaparte  increased  the  dominions  of 
the  houses  of  Bavaria,  Wurtemberg,  Baden,  and  Darmstadt, 
which  were  related  to  the  imperial  family  of  Russia,  it  was 
doubtless  to  please  Alexander,  but  above  all  because  he 
wished  to  recompense  their  fidelity  to  the  French  alliance.  It  was 
the  influence  of  France,  and  not  that  of  Russia,  that  was  in- 
creased on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  This  was  plainly  to  be 
seen  in  1805,  when  all  these  princes  hastened  to  conclude  sep- 
arate treaties  with  France,  which  already  announced  the  Con- 
federation of  the  Rhine.  For  the  moment  it  was  the  self-esteem 
of  Alexander  that  was  specially  wounded ;  he  saw  that  every- 
thing was  worked  from  Paris,  that  Bonaparte  was  all-powerful, 
and  that  his  envoy,  Markof,  was  only  sought  by  the  German 
princes  after  they  had  paid  court  to  Talleyrand.* 

In  Italy  the  question  of  the  King  of  Sardinia's  indemnity 
dragged  on  slowly.  On  the  nth  of  September,  1802,  Bonaparte 
had  announced  the  union  of  Piedmont  to  France,  but  he  al- 
ways declined  to  fix  the  promised  equivalent.  He  had  at  first 
suggested  Parma  and  Piacenza,  then  had  given  them  to  an  Infant 
of  Spain.  He  had  no  longer  offered  anything  beyond  Siena, 
Orbitello,  and  a  pension  of  500,000  livres,  saying,  "  As  much 
money  as  you  like,  but  nothing  more  ;  "  and  again,  "  This  affair 
ought  not  to  interest  the  Emperor  Alexander  more  than  the 
affairs  of  Persia  interest  me,  the  First  Consul." 

In  Switzerland,  in  that  Helvetia  which  Souvorof  had  hoped 
to  march  through  as  victor,  it  was  Bonaparte  who  laid  down  the 
law,  accepting  the  title  of  mediator,  and  occupying  cantons  trou- 

*  Rambaud,  '  Lea  Francais  sur  k  Rhin'  and  *  L'Allemagne  sous  Napo- 
leon L' 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSZA.  1 45 

bled  by  intestine  discords.  It  is  true  that  in  the  Ionian  Islands, 
ceaselessly  agitated  by  small  civil  wars,  it  was  a  Russian  pleni. 
potentiary  that  arrived  to  appease  the  popular  excitement,  while 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  guaranteed  the  constitution. 

The  Peace  of  Amiens  was  on  the  eve  of  being  broken,  and, 
to  hinder  the  rupture  between  France  and  England,  Russia 
would  have  wished  to  offer  her  mediation.  She  feared  above 
everything  the  French  occupation  of  Naples  and  Hanover.  The 
occupation  of  Naples  meant  the  humiliation  of  another  Italian 
client  of  Russia ;  that  of  Hanover  brought  the  French  very  near 
to  the  Elbe  and  Hamburg.  The  fears  of  Alexander  were  real- 
ized. In  a  war  against  England,  Bonaparte  could  not  neglect 
such  important  points.  Gouvion  Saint  Cyr  occupied  Tarento, 
Otranto,  and  Brindisi ;  Mortier  invaded  Hanover  and  got  a  loan 
from  Hamburg;  Holland  and  Tuscany  were  also  garrisoned 
with  French  troops  (June-July,  1803). 

The  choice  of  Markof  as  the  Russian  representative  at  Paris 
had  not  been  happy.  Like  almost  all  the  Russian  aristocracy, 
he  hated  equally  new  France,  the  Revolution,  and  Bonaparte. 
He  was  the  declared  friend  of  the  emigres,  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  royalist  plots  put  the  life  of  the  First  Consul  in  danger. 
His  Austrian  sympathies  were  notorious.  He  proved  to  be 
proud,  excessively  obstinate,  and  even  impertinent.  When  the 
consular  court  and  all  the  diplomatic  body  went  into  mourning 
on  the  death  of  General  Leclerc,  Bonaparte's  brother-in-law,  he 
alone  declined  to  wear  it.  He  was  compromised  by  the  seizure 
of  some  pamphlets  published  against  the  Government,  his  name 
being  found  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  subscribers.  He  had  the 
audacity  to  say,  "  The  Emperor  of  Russia  has  his  will,  but  the 
nation  also  has  hers."  The  Russian  Government  refused  to  re- 
call him,  in  spite  of  Talleyrand's  declaration  that  since  the  re- 
newal of  the  war  with  England  "  the  presence  of  so  ill-disposed 
a  man  was  more  than  unpleasant  to  the  First  Consul."  Bona- 
parte also  complained  of  some  French  emigres  whose  intrigues 
were  protected  by  Russia ;  of  Christin,  formerly  secretary  to 
Calonne,  at  Paris,  of  Vernegues  at  Rome,  of  D'Entraigues  at 
Dresden.  At  last,  after  an  angry  scene,  Markof  appeared  no 
more  at  the  Tuileries,  and  was  finally  recalled.  The  French 
were,  however,  no  better  contented  with  D'Oubril,  who  re- 
mained at  Paris  as  chargi  d'affaires. 

The  seizure  and  execution  of  the  Due  d'Enghien  increased 
the  misunderstanding  between  the  two  cabinets.  The  news  of 
this  murder  reached  St.  Petersburg  on  the  eve  of  a  diplomatic 
reception ;  when  the  reception  itself  took  place,  the  Emperor 
and  all  his  court  were  in  mourning.     Alexander  passed  General 


I46  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

He'douville,  the  French  Ambassador,  without  speaking  to  him. 
D'Oubril  presented  to  the  French  Government  a  note  protesting 
against  the  violation  of  international  law  and  of  neutral  territory. 
Alexander,  in  his  character  as  guarantor  of  the  German  Empire 
— a  title  which  he  maintained  that  he  had  acquired  by  the 
Treaty  of  Teschen — caused  a  similar  note  to  be  laid  before  the 
Diet  at  Ratisbon,  which  Sweden  and  England  hastened  to  ratify, 
but  which  terribly  embarrassed  the  Diet  and  all  the  Germanic 
body.  Bonaparte  retorted  by  recalling  He'douville.  He  replied 
officially  to  D'Oubril's  note  by  complaining  of  the  unfriendly  acts 
of  the  Russian  Government  towards  him,  of  the  ill-will  of  all  her 
agents,  of  the  embarrassing  situation  which  they  sought  to  create 
for  France  by  everywhere  patronizing  the  emigre's,  contested  the 
right  of  Russia  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  Germany,  and  declared 
that  in  the  affair  of  Ettenheim  the  Government  had  only  acted 
in  self-defence.  "  The  cry  raised  by  Russia  to-day  compels  us 
to  ask  if,  when  England  meditated  the  assassination  of  Paul  I., 
men  had  been  aware  that  the  authors  of  the  conspiracy  were 
lurking  within  a  league  from  the  frontiers,  they  would  not  have 
hastened  to  capture  them  ?  "  After  such  an  interchange  of  let- 
ters, the  charge's  d'affaires  themselves  were  recalled,  and  all 
diplomatic  relations  broken. 

Napoleon  had  just  been  crowned  Emperor ;  he  had  taken  at 
Milan  the  crown  of  Italy,  united  Genoa  to  the  French  territory, 
and  modified  the  constitution  of  Holland.  From  the  camp  at 
Boulogne  he  threatened  England,  but  a  coalition  was  already 
formed  against  him.  Novossiltsof,  one  of  the  favorite  ministers 
of  Alexander,  had  left  for  London  with  special  instructions  drawn 
up  by  the  Emperor ;  we  find  in  them  all  kinds  of  Utopian 
schemes,  sometimes  generous,  often  incoherent,  which  he  still 
cherished  at  this  epoch.  He  proposes  to  wrest  from  the  French, 
who  gave  themselves  out  as  the  champions  of  liberty,  the  dan- 
gerous weapon  of  propaganda ;  to  give  to  the  troubled  world  a 
good  example  by  restoring  the  King  of  Sardinia  ;  to  render  back 
to  Switzerland  and  Holland  the  liberty  to  choose  their  own 
rulers ;  to  declare  to  the  French  nation,  which  would  gladly 
welcome  the  allies,  that  the  war  was  directed,  not  against  her, 
but  against  her  Government,  from  which  she  suffered  as  severely 
as  the  rest  of  Europe.  In  this  note  Alexander  renewed  the  ques- 
tion of  the  reconstitution  of  Europe  :  taking  count  of  natural 
frontiers,  of  crests  of  mountains,  of  groups  of  nationalities, 
he  added  a  scheme  for  the  partition  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  in 
the  case  of  its  existence  becoming  incompatible  with  the  present 
state  of  Europe.  The  British  Cabinet  received  these  communi* 
cations  somewhat  coldly,  but  concluded  a  treaty  of  subsidies  io 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


'47 


the  proportion  of  ;£i, 200,000  for  every  100,000  men  put  under 
arms  by  Russia. 

Sweden  and  Naples  entered  the  coafition ;  Austria  had  al- 
ready attacked  Bavaria,  the  ally  of  Napoleon.  Alexander  also 
wished  to  assure  himself  of  Frederic  William  III.,  who  always 
vacillated  between  France  and  Russia,  and  who  had  undertaken 
engagements  towards  both.  Alexander  thought  to  gain  him  by 
announcing  that  his  army  was  about  to  cross  Silesia  and  Pome- 
p'ania,  but  the  King  of  Prussia  instantly  mobilized  his  troops,  to 
cause  his  neutrality  to  be  respected.  The  violation  of  the  terri- 
tories of  Anspach  and  Baireuth  by  the  French  soon  changed  the 
course  of  his  ideas.  Alexander  had  his  famous  interview  near 
Frederic  the  Great's  tomb,  with  the  King  and  Queen  of  Prussia. 
By  the  Treaty  of  Potsdam,  Prussia  undertook  to  furnish  80,000 
men  to  the  coalition  if  Napoleon  did  not  accept  its  ultimatum. 
The  ultimatum  stipulated  for  the  independence  of  Germany  and 
Italy,  and  the  indemnity  to  the  King  of  Sardinia.  Haugwitz 
was  ordered  to  carry  it  to  Napoleon. 

During  these  negotiations  the  Russian  army  was  put  in 
motion.  Behind  the  three  great  Austrian  armies  (those  of  the 
Archduke  Charles  in  Italy,  the  Archduke  John  in  the  Tyrol,  and 
Mack  with  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  against  Bavaria)  were 
ranged  the  Russian  troops.  Besides  the  20,000  men  (under 
Tolstoi)  who  were  to  join  the  Swedes  and  disembark  at  Stral- 
sund,  and  the  20,000  (under  Admiral  Seniavine)  who  were 
to  join  the  English  and  disembark  at  Naples,  there  were  the 
troops  who  guarded  the  frontiers  of  Turkey  and  Prussia,  and 
the  great  army  of  Germany.  The  latter  had  as  its  vanguard 
Koutouzof,  who,  with  45,000  men,  hastened  to  the  Inn  to  unitf 
with  Mack.  In  Moravia  strong  forces  were  gathering  unde* 
the  orders  of  Buxhcewden  and  the  eyes  of  the  Emperor.  Alex 
ander  had  with  him  his  three  ministers — Czartoryski,  Novo* 
siltsof,  and  Strogonof.  All  the  Imperial  Guard  was  there — th« 
Horse  Guards,  the  Knights,  the  Preobrajenski,  the  Semenovski, 
the  Ismallovski,  the  Pavlovski,  and  the  flower  of  the  army. 

Koutouzof  had  already  reached  Braunau  on  the  Inn,  when 
he  heard  of  the  Capitulation  of  Ulm,  and  the  annihilation  of 
Mack's  army.  He  found  his  own  position  very  critical,  being 
at  a  great  distance  from  the  main  body.  He  had  under  him  ex- 
cellent troops,  and  three  admirable  lieutenants  :  Prince  Bagra- 
tion,  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  campaign  of  1799,  tne  favorite 
pupil  of  old  Souvorof ;  Doktourof,  the  intrepid  leader  of  the 
Grenadiers  ;  Miloradovitch,  surnamed  the  Murat  of  the  Russian 
army,  and  of  whom  it  was  said,  "  Whoever  wishes  to  follow 
Miloradovitch  must  have  a  spare  life."    To  escape  being  cuf 


148  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

eff  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Danube  by  Murat's  cavalry,  by 
Oudinot  and  by  Lannes,  and  on  the  left  bank  by  the  corps  of 
Mortier,  Koutouzof  retreated,  giving  battle  to  Oudinot  at  Lam- 
bach  in  Amstetten.  He  then  crossed  the  Danube  at  Krems, 
fought  the  battle  of  Dirnstein  with  Mortier,  and  marched  to  the 
north  to  join  the  great  Russian  army.  The  surprise  of  the 
bridge  of  Vienna  by  Lannes  and  Murat  endangered  him  on  his 
left  flank  during  his  retreat  into  Moravia.  To  save  his  army, 
his  rear-guard  must  be  sacrificed.  The  dogged  Bagration  was 
charged  to  check  the  pursuit  of  the  French.  He  intrenched 
himself  at  Hollabrunn  and  Schongraben.  Murat  came  up  first, 
and  desired  to  gain  time  in  order  to  allow  Lannes  to  join  him  ; 
Bagration  wished  to  give  Koutouzof  time  to  escape.  He  re- 
ceived Murat's  envoy  favorably,  and  sent  to  propose  an  armistice 
in  the  name  of  the  Tzar.  Ten  hours  passed  while  they  awaited 
the  answer  of  Napoleon.  The  latter,  furious  at  Murat's  credulity, 
sent  orders  that  he  was  to  attack  immediately.  Bagration's 
10,000  men  fought  desperately  during  twelve  hours.  At  night 
Bagration  retreated,  having  lost  2000  men  and  all  his  guns. 
Koutouzof,  who  had  been  saved  by  his  devotion,  embraced  him 
and  exclaimed,  "  You  live,  and  that  is  enough  for  me." 

The  junction  of  Koutouzof,  Buxhoeweden,  and  the  Austrians 
took  place  at  Olmiitz,  and  Napoleon  was  concentrating  his  forces 
at  Briinn.  He  had  collected  about  70,000  men,  the  Emperors 
of  Russia  and  Austria  about  80,000.  The  greatest  exultation 
reigned  in  the  Russian  head-quarters.  The  young  Emperor  and 
his  young  officers,  proud  of  the  splendid  battles  fought  by  Kou- 
touzof and  Bagration,  spoke  with  profound  contempt  of  the  Aus- 
trians, who  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  so  easily  trapped  at 
Ulm  ;  they  had  only  hatred  and  disdain  for  "  Buonaparte'  the 
Corsican,"  who  owed  his  victories  to  the  imbecility  of  his  adver- 
saries. A  small  success  of  the  vanguard  at  Wischau,  the  appar- 
ent timidity  of  Napoleon,  and  the  arrival  of  General  Savary  as 
envoy,  completely  turned  their  heads.  Alexander  sent  the 
young  Prince  Dolgorouki  to  the  French  head-quarters,  with  a 
note  addressed  to  the  "  head  of  the  French  nation."  It  was 
necessary,  said  the  Prince  to  Napoleon,  that  France  should 
abandon  Italy,  if  she  wanted  immediate  peace.  If  she  were 
vanquished,  she  would  have  to  lose  not  only  the  Rhine,  but 
Piedmont,  Savoy,  and  Belgium,  which  would  be  formed  into 
barriers  against  her.  "  What !  Brussels  also  ?  "  exclaimed 
Napoleon,  and  coldly  dismissed  him.  "These  people  are 
mad,"  he  said.  "  What  would  they  do  with  France  if  I  were 
defeated ! " 

**  It  is  difficult,"  relates  a  Russian  eye-witness,  Jirkievitcb, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


*49 


thrf  lieutenant  of  artillery,  "  to  picture  the  enthusiasm  that  ani- 
mated us  all,  and  the  strange  and  ridiculous  infatuation  that 
accompanied  this  noble  sentiment.  It  seemed  to  us  that  we 
were  going  straight  to  Paris.  No  one  spoke  of  anything  but 
Dolgorouki,  a  young  man  of  twenty-five,  who  presented  himself 
to  Napoleon  with  a  letter  from  the  Emperor,  and  all  admired 
the  cleverness  of  the  superscription,  in  which  the  imperial  title 
of  Napoleon  had  been  so  skilfully  avoided.  It  was  even  added 
that  when  Dolgorouki  gave  the  letter  to  Napoleon,  as  the  latter 
remained  covered,  Dolgorouki  replaced  his  hat.  A  few  days 
passed,  and  our  ideas  became  greatly  changed."  The  scheme 
conceived  by  Weirother  the  Austrian,  and  approved  by  Alex- 
ander, was  that  Bagration  on  the  right  should  keep  Lannes  in 
check  ;  the  two  Imperial  Guards  would  be  sufficient  to  watch 
the  plateau  of  Pratzen;  Doktourof,  Langeron,  Prje'bichevski, 
even  Koutouzof  and  Miloradovitch,  were  to  descend  into  the 
valley  of  Goldbach  to  turn  Napoleon,  cut  him  off  from  the 
Danube,  and  force  him  back  on  the  mountains  of  Bohemia. 

The  evening  before  the  battle  it  was  still  believed  that  Napo- 
leon would  retreat.  Dolgorouki  recommended  his  soldiers  "  to 
watch  well  which  way  the  French  retired."  On  the  morning  of 
the  2nd  of  December,  1805,  the  valley  of  Goldbach  was  covered 
by  a  fog,  from  the  waves  of  which  emerged,  as  from  the  bosom 
of  a  milky  sea,  the  mountain  summits  gilded  by  the  early  rays 
of  the  sun  ;  on  the  west  lay  the  heights  of  Schlapanitz,  where 
Napoleon  had  taken  up  his  position  ;  on  the  east,  the  hills  of 
Pratzen,  where  the  allied  emperors  were  encamped.  Napoleon 
distinctly  saw  the  Russian  columns  descend  the  plateau  of 
Pratzen,  and  lose  themselves  in  the  fog ;  and  from  the  side  of 
Lakes  Sokolnitz,  Satchan,  and  Menitz — that  is  to  say,  to  the 
right — he  heard  the  noise  of  their  artillery  carriages.  He  was 
therefore  certain  that,  as  he  had  foreseen,  the  allies  hoped  to 
turn  this  wing.  When  the  plateau  of  Pratzen,  the  centre  of  the 
Russian  army,  seemed  to  him  sufficiently  bare,  he  gave  the  sig- 
nal. In  twenty  minutes  the  corps  of  Soult  scaled  the  slopes  in 
heavy  masses,  and  attacked  Koutouzof  and  Miloradovitch,  whose 
divisions  alone  remained  on  the  plateau.  There  a  desperate 
battle  was  fought.  The  Emperor  of  Russia  found  himself  under 
fire,  his  men  were  dispersed,  and  he  himself  was  obliged  to 
retire  at  a  gallop,  attended  only  by  his  doctor,  a  single  company, 
and  two  Cossacks.  A  little  to  the  right  of  the  plateau,  the 
TzareVitch  Constantine  with  the  Guards  tried  to  oppose  the 
cavalry  of  Murat  and  the  French  Guards.  It  was  an  epic 
struggle,  where  fought  on  one  side  the  famous  Russian  regiments 
of  the  Foot  Guards,  the  Horse  Guards,  the  elite  of  the  Russian 


g  jo  BiS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS/A. 

nobility,  the  Uhlans,  the  chasseurs  of  the  Guard,  the  Cossacks 
and  the  Cuirassiers  of  Lichtenstein  ;  on  the  other,  the  Mame« 
lukes  of  Rapp,  the  mounted  Grenadiers  of  Bessieres,  the  light 
cavalry  of  Kellermann,  the  Cuirassiers  of  Hautpoul  and  of  Nan- 
souty.  At  the  extreme  right  of  the  Russians,  Bagration  could 
easily  beat  a  retreat  before  Lannes ;  but  on  their  left,  the  columns 
of  Doktourof,  Langeron,  and  Prjel>ichevski,  entangled  in  the 
network  of  lakes,  engaged  since  morning  by  the  corps  of 
Davoust,  and  suddenly  attacked  in  their  rear  by  the  victorious 
troops  returning  from  the  plateau  of  Pratzen,  found  themselves 
in  a  frightful  situation  :  2000  men  perished  on  the  ice,  which 
Napoleon  had  broken  by  shots  from  the  guns.  Doktourof  pro- 
tected the  retreat.  "  It  was  impossible,"  says  Dumas,  "at  the 
end  of  a  lost  battle,  to  put  a  better  face  on  things." 

Such  was  "  the  battle  of  the  three  emperors."  The  Russians 
fell  back  on  Austerlitz.  Without  reckoning  the  Austrian  loss, 
their  own  amounted  to  21,000  men,  133  cannon,  and  30  flags. 
They  were  furious  against  their  allies.  As  happened  after  the 
battle  of  Zurich,  they  accuser!  them  of  incapacity,  and  even  of 
treason.  It  was  the  Austrians  who  had  sketched  the  plan  of  the 
battle  :  now,  fighting  in  their  own  country,  on  a  soil  which  they 
had  studied  at  leisure  in  the  manoeuvres  on  parade,  they  had 
wholly  failed  in  strategy,  and  had  provided  neither  forage  nor 
ammunition.  Dolgorouki,  in  a  report  to  the  Emperor,  remarks: 
"They  conducted  the  army  of  your  majesty  rather  to  deliver  it 
to  the  enemy  than  to  fight ;  and  what  puts  the  finishing  touch  to 
this  infamy  is,  that  our  dispositions  were  known  to  the  enemy,  a 
fact  of  which  we  have  certain  proof."  Rostopchine  echoes  him : 
"  The  plan  had  been  treacherously  communicated  to  Bonaparte  ; 
forty-eight  hours  before  we  were  ready,  the  latter  began  the  at- 
tack at  break  of  day.  From  the  beginning,  half  of  the  Austrians 
took  up  arms ;  the  other  half  crossed  over  to  the  enemy,  and 
some  even  fired  on  us." 

On  the  4th  the  Emperor  Francis  had  an  interview  with  Na* 
poleon,  and  obtained  for  the  Russian  army,  which  was  greatly 
imperilled  after  its  disaster,  and  was  closely  pressed  by  Davoust, 
leave  to  retire,  on  condition  that  it  should  return  to  Russia  by 
stages,  to  be  regulated  by  Napoleon.  On  the  26th  the  Treaty 
of  Presburg  was  signed,  which  deprived  Francis  II.  of  Venice, 
the  Tyrol,  and  Austrian  Swabia ;  he  was  likewise  to  give  up  the 
title  of  Emperor.  This  new  intervention  of  the  Russians  in 
Europe  ended  in  a  formidable  growth  of  French  power.  The 
King  of  Naples  was  dethroned  and  replaced  by  Joseph ;  the 
kingdom  of  Italy  was  increased  by  Venice  ;  Murat  became  Grand 
Duke  of  Berg ;  the  sovereigns  of  Bavaria,  Wurtemburg,  and 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


*5« 


Baden,  strengthened  by  the  spoils  of  Austria,  decorated  with  the 
titles  of  king  and  grand  duke,  formed,  with  the  new  Prince-Pri- 
mate Charles  of  Dalberg,  the  Grand  Duke  of  Hesse-Darmstadt, 
and  fifteen  other  sovereign  princes,  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine 
(Rheinbuna).  There  was  no  longer  a  Russian  clientele  in  Germany. 
Already  Napoleon's  family  was  contracting  matrimonial  alliances 
with  those  of  Bavaria,  Wurtemburg,  and  Baden.  The  German 
vassals  of  the  successor  of  Charles  the  Great,  of  the  new  Em- 
peror of  the  West,  could  add  to  his  army  from  100,000  to  150,000 
men.  Haugwitz,  who  had  been  ordered  to  inform  Napoleon  of 
the  ultimatum  stipulated  by  the  Treaty  of  Potsdam,  found  him- 
self at  Schonbrunn  in  the  presence  of  a  defiant  and  invincible 
conqueror ;  he  was  forced  to  sign  a  treaty  imposing  on  Prussia 
the  acceptance  of  Hanover,  in  exchange  for  Anspach  and  Bai- 
reuth,  and  irrevocably  embroiling  her  with  England.  The  coali- 
tion was  therefore  beaten  in  the  field  and  dissolved  in  the  cabinet. 
Russia,  isolated  by  the  ruin  of  Naples,  the  desertion  of  Austria, 
and  the  defection  of  Prussia,  found  herself  almost  alone  on  the 
Continent. 

We  all  know  how  from  this  same  Treaty  of  Schonbrunn, 
which  appeared  to  attach  Prussia  to  Napoleon,  sprang  a  new 
war.  The  coalition  was  renewed  between  Russia,  England, 
Sweden,  and  Prussia.  The  Prussians  showed  in  1806  the  same 
precipitation  as  the  Austrians  in  1805  ;  like  them,  they  did 
not  allow  time  for  the  Russians  to  join  them ;  and  when 
Alexander  found  himself  able  to  undertake  a  second  campaign, 
he  learnt  the  twofold  catastrophe  of  Jena  and  Auerstadt,  as  he 
had  formerly  learnt  that  of  Ulm.  For  the  second  time,  her  prin- 
cipal ally  being  beaten,  the  whole  weight  of  the  war  fell  upon 
Russia.  On  this  occasion  the  disaster  was  even  greater,  for  the 
Prussian  monarchy  had  ceased  to  exist.  The  French  occupied 
Berlin,  and  took  the  fortresses  on  the  Oder  and  the  Vistula. 
Nothing  remained  to  Frederic  William  in  the  north  but  three 
fortresses,  Dantzig,  Konigsberg,  and  Memel,  and  a  small  body 
of  14,000  men  under  Lestocq. 

These  events  had  followed  one  another  with  a  rapidity  so  start- 
ling that  Russia  found  herself  taken  unawares.  After  Austerlitz 
she  had  tried  to  negotiate  with  Napoleon,  and  sent  D'Oubril  to 
Paris;  but  D'Oubril,  who  had  consented  to  the  evacution  of  Cattaro 
and  the  Ionian  Isles,  and  the  recognition  of  the  principle  of  Otto- 
man integrity,  had  been  disavowed  at  St.  Petersburg,  like  Haug- 
witz at  Berlin.  Russia  found  herself  in  a  terrible  plight ;  and 
she  had  in  addition  the  prospect  of  a  double  war  against  Persia 
and  Turkey.  Czartoryski,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  addressed 
a  memorial  to  the   Emperor,   counselling  peace.     He   showed 


'52 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


that  Russia  had  two  vulnerable  points, — Poland,  and  the  serfage 
of  the  peasants.  Invasion  must  be  avoided  at  all  costs,  for  the  in- 
vader would  not  fail  to  proclaim  the  re-establishment  of  Poland, 
and  the  freedom  of  the  serfs.  It  was  of  little  consequence  that 
Germany  was  subject  to  Napoleon,  if  the  latter  would  consent 
not  to  pass  the  Weser  or  even  the  Elbe.  It  was  necessary  to 
consent  to  the  evacuation  of  Cattaro  and  the  Ionian  Isles,  to 
guarantee  Sicily  only  to  the  King  of  Naples,  and  to  obtain  some 
sort  of  an  indemnity  for  the  King  of  Sardinia.  It  would  be 
better  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  Napoleon  for  regulating  the 
affairs  of  Turkey.  Only  one  thing  was  important,  the  safety  of 
the  empire. 

But  Alexander,  secure  of  Prussia,  at  this  moment  still  intact, 
inclined  to  war.  He  demanded  a  new  conscription  of  one  man 
in  every  hundred,  lowered  the  regulation  height  one  inch,  or- 
dered muskets  even  from  private  manufacturers  and  foreigners, 
created  new  regiments,  summoned  students  and  young  nobles, 
promising  them  the  grade  of  officer  after  six  months'  service, 
for  the  fight  at  Pratzen  had  made  terrible  havoc  with  the  Guards. 
A  plan  of  organizing  militia  was  talked  of,  which  would  have 
given  them  612,000  men.  The  priests  were  ordered  to  proclaim 
everywhere  that  war  was  made,  "  not  for  vain  glory,  but  for  the 
salvation  of  the  country."  England  was  asked  for  a  loan  of 
;£6, 000,000.  Austria  was  once  more  appealed  to.  When  Prussia 
was  crushed,  the  14,000  Prussians  of  Lestocq  were  sent  for. 

Buxhcewden  had  28,000  men ;  another  army  of  60,000  men 
was  confided  to  Bennigsen,  a  learned  man  of  boundless  energy 
(one  of  the  conspirators  of  1801),  with  a  certain  genius  for 
tactics.  He  has,  however,  been  reproached  with  indecision  at 
the  critical  moment,  with  neglecting  discipline,  and  not  knowing 
how  to  repress  pillage  ;  the  marauders  did  not  respect  even  his 
head-quarters  or  his  own  house.  These  defects  were,  how- 
ever, partially  atoned  for  by  a  tenacity  destined  to  astonish 
Napoleon.  The  old  Field-marshal  Kamenski,  nominated  General- 
issimo, had  concentrated  all  his  forces  on  the  Vistula.  When 
his  infirmities  obliged  him  to  resign  his  command,  Bennigsen 
succeeded  him. 

Murat,  Davoust,  and  Lannes  had  entered  Warsaw,  then  a 
Prussian  possession,  and  had  established  themselves  on  the  Bug, 
forming  the  right  of  the  Grand  Army.  Soult  and  Augereau 
crossed  the  Vistula  at  Modlin,  and  formed  the  centre ;  on  the 
left  Ney  and  Bernadotte  occupied  Thorn  and  Elburg.  In  the  rear 
Mortier  acted  in  Pomerania  against  the  Swedes ;  Lefebvre 
besieged  Dantzig ;  and  Jerome  Bonaparte,  with  Vandamme, 
finished  the  conquest  of  Silesia.     Pressed  by  the  Grand  Army, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


'53 


Bennigsen  was  obliged  to  evacuate  Poland,  after  some  severe 
fighting,  especially  at  Pultusk  (December  26),  and  retired  by 
way  of  Ostrolenka,  leaving  in  the  mud  of  Poland  eighty  field- 
pieces  and  nearly  10,000  men;  he  stopped  on  the  Alle  to  cover 
Konigsberg. 

Winter  had  arrived  :  the  Grand  Army  reposed  in  camp,  when 
Bennigsen  conceived  the  audacious  project  of  moving  hi?  left 
wing,  passing  between  the  two  forces  of  Bernadotte  and  Ney, 
crushing  Bernadotte  and  forcing  Ney  into  the  sea  ;  of  relieving 
Dantzig  and  carrying  the  war  into  Brandenburg  on  the  rear 
of  Napoleon.  Bernadotte,  however,  resisted  so  stubbornly  at 
Mohrungen  and  Osterode,  that  Napoleon  had  time  to  come  up, 
and  Bennigsen  himself  was  on  the  point  of  having  his  left  wing 
turned,  and  seeing  his  lines  of  communication  cut.  An  inter- 
cepted despatch  warned  him  of  the  risk  he  ran  ;  it  was  necessary 
to  sound  a  retreat,  and  Bagration  was  again  called  on  to  protect 
it.  As  at  Schongraben,  he  covered  himself  with  glory,  and  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  sacrificed  for  the  salvation  of  the  army  ;  his 
"  incomparable  regiment  of  Kostroma  "  was  almost  annihilated, 
and  he  himself  severely  wounded.  During  this  time  Bennigsen 
marched  to  Eylau  and  took  up  a  position  to  the  east  of  the  town, 
on  a  line  of  heights  which  extended  from  Schloditten  to  Serpal- 
len  ;  behind  his  centre  lay  the  village  of  Sansgarten,  his  front 
was  covered  by  250  pieces  of  cannon. 

When  Napoleon  arrived  at  Eylau,  which  was  taken  on  the  7th 
of  February,  he  had  only  with  him  Soult,  Augereau,  Murat,  and 
the  Guard ;  Davoust,  who  was  to  form  his  right  wing,  and  Ney, 
who  was  to  form  his  left  wing,  and  who  had  been  delayed  by  his 
pursuit  of  Lestocq,  were  still  wanting,  Bennigsen,  on  his  side, 
awaited  Lestocq,  who  was  to  compose  his  right.  The  battle, 
however,  began  (February  8),  and  was  one  of  the  bloodiest  of  the 
century.  A  thick  snow  was  falling,  which  ever  and  anon  hid 
the  battle-field  from  sight ;  the  sky  was  of  a  livid  gray ;  the  land- 
scape was  as  gloomy  as  the  action.  The  battle  began  by  a 
formidable  cannonade,  which  lasted  all  the  day.  The  French, 
sheltered  by  the  buildings  of  the  town  of  Eylau,  and  disposed 
in  thin  lines,  suffered  from  it  less  than  the  Russians,  who  had 
little  cover,  and  were  ranged  in  compact  masses.  The  corps  of 
Augereau  and  the  division  of  St.  Hilaire,  entrusted  with  the 
attack  on  the  Russian  left  wing,  went  astray,  blinded  by  a  snow- 
storm ;  when  the  sky  cleared,  the  two  divisions  of  Augereau  found 
themselves  opposite  the  Russian  centre,  forty  paces  from  a  bat- 
tery of  seventy-two  guns  ;  mown  down  at  the  cannon's  mouth, 
they  lost  in  a  few  minutes  5200  men.  Augereau  and  his  two 
generals  of   division  were  wounded.     At  the  same  moment  an 


iS4 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


enormous  mass  of  cavalry,  uhlans,  and  cuirassiers  dashed  them- 
selves against  St.  Hilaire's  infantry,  upsetting  everything  in  their 
passage.  The  infantry  of  the  Russian  centre  advanced  almost 
to  the  cemetery  of  Eylau,  where  stood  Napoleon.  It  was  then 
that  Murat,  in  his  turn,  assembled  eighty  squadrons,  and  led 
against  this  infantry  the  most  frightful  charge  mentioned  in  the 
annals  of  these  wars  ;  solid  squares  were  broken  by  his  cuiras- 
siers. Then  the  two  armies  continued  to  watch  and  to  fire  at 
each  other.  The  battle  made  little  progress  till  Davoust  at  last 
joined  the  right  wing  of  the  French  army,  turned  the  Russian 
left  and  threw  it  back  upon  the  centre,  and  reached  Sansgarten 
on  their  rear.  The  Prussians  of  Lestocq  arrived  in  their  turn  at 
the  other  extremity  of  the  line,  but  they  were  followed  by  Ney, 
who  in  the  darkness  of  night,  at  half-past  nine  o'clock,  began  to 
break  Bennigsen's  right  wing.  The  Russians  now  ran  the  risk 
of  being  surrounded.  They  had  suffered  cruel  losses  :  one  of  their 
divisions,  that  of  Count  Ostermann  Tolstoi,  no  longer  counted 
more  than  2500  men.  "  The  general  in  chief,"  says  M.  Bogda- 
novitch,  "trembled  as  he  read  the  reports  of  the  generals  of 
divisions."  He  had  not  30,000  men  under  arms ;  26,000  were 
killed  or  wounded ;  among  the  latter  were  Barclay  de  Tolly, 
Doktourof,  and  seven  other  generals.  He  profited  by  the  dark- 
ness to  beat  a  retreat,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  claim  as  a  victory 
what  in  reality  had  only  been  a  glorious  resistance. 

The  French  had  more  right  to  call  themselves  victorious,  as 
they  remained  masters  of  the  field  of  battle.  Unlike  the  Rus- 
sians, some  of  their  troops  were  still  intact,  such  as  Ney's  corps 
and  the  Foot  Guards,  but  they  had  likewise  suffered  terribly,  and 
a  gloomy  sadness  hung  over  the  survivors.  Such  efforts,  so  much 
blood  shed,  yet  such  small  results,  so  few  trophies  I  This  melan- 
choly impression  is  reflected  even  in  Napoleon's  despatch,  where 
he  allows  himself  to  describe  the  funereal  aspect  of  the  battle- 
field, the  thousands  of  heaped-up  corpses,  the  gunners  killed  on 
their  pieces,  "  all  thrown  into  relief  by  a  background  of  snow  " 
Ney  shrugged  his  shoulders  on  seeing  the  carnage.  "  What  a  mas- 
sacre," he  said,  "  and  without  result !  "  The  French  suffered 
hunger  and  cold  ;  the  immense  spaces,  the  broken  roads,  the 
marshy  plains,  the  stoical  resistance  of  the  Russians,  had  dis- 
concerted the  calculations  of  Napoleon.  Eylau  gave  him  a  fore- 
taste of  18 1 2  ;  the  delay  of  Ney  a  foretaste  of  Waterloo.  Fortune 
took  care  to  warn  him  that  she  would  not  always  be  punctual  to 
her  rendezvous.  The  effect  produced  on  Europe  was  unlucky 
for  France  ;  in  Paris  the  Funds  fell.  Bennigsen  boldly  ordered 
the  Te  Deum  to  be  sung. 

In  order  to  confirm  his   victory,  re-organize  his  army,  reas* 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


«5S 


sure  France,  re-establish  the  opinion  of  Europe,  encourage  the 
Polish  insurrection,  and  to  curb  the  ill-will  of  Germany  and 
Austria,  Napoleon  remained  a  week  at  Eylau.  He  negotiated : 
on  one  side  he  caused  Talleyrand  to  write  to  Zastrow,  the  Prus- 
sian foreign  minister,  to  propose  peace  and  his  alliance ;  he  sent 
Bertrand  to  Memel  to  offer  to  re-establish  the  King  of  Prussia, 
on  the  condition  of  no  foreign  intervention.  He  also  tried  to 
negotiate  with  Bennigsen  ;  to  which  the  latter  made  answer, 
"  that  his  master  had  charged  him  to  fight,  and  not  negotiate." 
After  some  hesitation,  Prussia  ended  by  joining  her  fortunes  to 
those  of  Russia.  By  the  convention  of  Bartenstein  (25th  April, 
1807),  the  two  sovereigns  came  to  terms  on  the  following 
points  : — 

1.  The  re-establishment  of  Prussia  within  the  limits  of  1805. 
2.  The  dissolution  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine.  3.  The 
restitution  to  Austria  of  the  Tyrol  and  Venice.  4.  The  accession 
of  England  to  the  coalition,  and  the  aggrandizement  of  Hanover. 
5.  The  co-operation  of  Sweden.  6.  The  restoration  of  the  house 
of  Orange,  and  indemnities  to  the  kings  of  Naples  and  Sardinia. 
This  document  is  important ;  it  nearly  reproduces  the  conditions 
offered  to  Napoleon  at  the  Congress  of  Prague,  in  18 13. 

Russia  and  Prussia  proposed  then  to  make  a  more  pressing 
appeal  to  Austria,  Sweden,  and  England ;  but  the  Emperor 
Francis  was  naturally  undecided,  and  the  Archduke  Charles, 
alleging  the  state  of  the  finances  and  the  army,  strongly  advised 
him  against  any  new  intervention.  Sweden  was  too  weak  ;  and 
notwithstanding  his  fury  against  Napoleon,  Gustavus  III.  had 
just  been  forced  to  treat  with  Mortier.  The  English  minister 
showed  a  remarkable  inability  to  conceive  the  situation  ;  he  re- 
fused to  guarantee  the  new  Russian  loan  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
millions,  and  would  lend  himself  to  no  maritime  diversion. 

Napoleon  showed  the  greatest  diplomatic  activity.  The 
Sultan  Selim  III.  declared  war  against  Russia  ;  General  Se- 
bastiani,  the  envoy  at  Constantinople,  put  the  Bosphorus  in  a 
state  of  defence,  and  repulsed  the  English  fleet  ;  General  Gar- 
dane  left  for  Ispahan,  with  a  mission  to  cause  a  Persian  outbreak 
in  the  Caucasus.  Dantzig  had  capitulated,  and  Lefebvre's  40,000 
men  were  therefore  ready  for  service.  Massena  took  36,000  of 
them  into  Italy. 

In  the  spring,  Bennigsen,  who  had  been  reinforced  by  10,000 
regular  troops,  6000  Cossacks,  and  the  Imperial  Guard,  being 
now  at  the  head  of  100,000  men,  took  the  offensive  ;  Gortchakof 
commanding  the  right  and  Bagration  the  left.  He  tried,  as  in 
the  preceding  year,  to  seize  Ney's  division  ;  but  the  latter  fought, 
as  he  retired,  two  bloody  fights,  at  Gutstadt  and  Ankendorff. 


1 5  6  BIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Bennigsen,  again  in  danger  of  being  surrounded,  retired  on 
Heilsberg.  He  defended  himself  bravely  (June  10);  but  the 
French,  extending  their  line  on  his  right,  marched  on  Eylau,  so 
as  to  cut  him  off  from  Kdnigsberg.  The  Russian  generalissimo 
retreated  ;  but  being  pressed,  he  had  to  draw  up  at  Frie  dland, 
on  the  Alle. 

The  position  he  had  taken  up  was  most  dangerous.     All  his 
army  was  enclosed  in  an  angle  of  the  Alle,  with  the  steep  bed 
of  the  river  at  their  backs,  which  in  case  of  misfortune  left  them 
only  one  means  of  retreat,  over  the  three  bridges  of  Friedland. 
The  French  vanguard  arrived  at  two  in  the  morning,  filled  the 
woods  of  Posthenen  with  sharpshooters,  and  held  the  Russians 
in  check  till  the  arrival  of  the  Emperor.     The  Russian  army  was 
almost  hidden  in  the  ravine  of  Alle.     "  Where  are  the  Russians 
concealed  ?  "  asked  Napoleon  when  he  came  up.     When  he  had 
noted  their  situation,  he  exclaimed,  "  It  is  not  every  day  that 
one  surprises  the  enemy  in  such  a  fault."     He  put  Lannes  and 
Victor  in  reserve,  ordered  Mortier  to  oppose  Gortchakof  on  the 
left  and  to  remain  still,  as  the  movement  which  "  would  be  made 
by  the  right  would  pivot  on  the  left."     As  to  Ney,  he  was  to  cope 
on  the  right  with  Bagration,  who  was  shut  in  by  the  angle  of  the 
river  ;  he  was  to  meet  them  "  with  his  head  down,"  without 
taking  any  care  of  his  own  safety.      Ney  led  the  charge  with 
irresistible  fury ;  the  Russians  were  riddled  by  his  artillery  at 
150  paces  :  he  successively  crushed  the  chasseurs  of  the  Russian 
Guard,  the  Ismailovski,  and  the  Horse  Guards,  burnt  Friedland 
by  shells,  and  cannonaded   the  bridges  which  were   the  only 
means  of  retreat.     In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  Ismailovski  lost 
400  men  out  of  520.     Bagration,  surrounded  by  the  grenadiers 
of  Moscow,    had    to  use  his  sword  :  his  lieutenants,   Raievski, 
Ermolof,  and  Baggowut,  wasted  their  strength  in  useless  efforts. 
The  Russian  left  wing  was  almost  thrown  into  the  river  ;  Bagra- 
tion, with  the  Semenovski  and  other  troops,  was  hardly  ably  to 
cover  the  defeat.     On  the    Russian  right,  Gortchakof,  who  had 
advanced  to  attack  the  immovable  Mortier,  had  only  time  to 
ford  the  Alle.     Count  Lambert  retired  with  29  guns  by  the  left 
bank  ;  the  rest  fled  by  the  right  bank,  closely  pursued  by  the 
cavalry.     Meanwhile  Murat,  Davoust,  and  Soult,  who  had  taken 
no  part  in  the  battle,  arrived  before  Konigsberg.     Lestocq,  with 
25,000  men,  tried  to  defend  it,  but  on  learning  the  disaster  of 
Friedland  he  hastily  evacuated  it.     Only  one  fortress  now  re- 
mained to  Frederic  William — the  little  town  of  Memel.     The 
Russians  had  lost  at  Friedland  from  15,000  to  20,000  men,  bed- 
sides 80  guns  (June  14  1807). 

Alexander,  who  was  established  at  Jurburg,  received  a  report 


HIS  TOR  V  OF  R  USS1A.  1 5  7 

from  Bennigsen  merely  announcing  that  he  had  been  obliged  to 
evacuate  the  banks  of  the  Alle,  and  that  he  would  wait  in  a  more 
advantageous  position  till  Lobanof  Rostovski  brought  him  re- 
inforcements. Now,  Lobanof  had  only  a  few  thousand  Kal- 
mucks, and  it  was  to  these  badly-armed  savages  that  they  looked 
for  the  salvation  of  Russia.  More  explicit  accounts  reached 
Alexander  from  the  TzareVitch  Constantine  and  other  officers. 
The  situation  was  desperate  :  Alexander  had  no  longer  an  army. 
Only  one  man,  Barclay  de  Tolly,  proposed  to  continue  the  war  ; 
but  in  order  to  do  this  it  would  be  necessary  to  re-enter  Russia, 
to  penetrate  into  the  very  heart  of  the  empire,  to  burn  everything 
on  the  way,  and  only  present  a  desert  to  the  enemy.  Alexander 
hoped  to  get  off  more  cheaply.  He  wrote  a  severe  letter  to 
Bennigsen,  and  gave  him  powers  to  treat.  Prince  Lobanof  left 
for  the  head-quarters  of  Napoleon,  who  sent  in  his  turn  the  Captain 
de  Talleyrand-Perigord.  Alexander  had  at  that  time  a  common 
sentiment  with  Napoleon — hatred  of  the  English.  He  neither 
pardoned  them  for  their  refusal  to  guarantee  a  Russian  loan, 
nor  for  the  calculated  insufficiency  of  their  diversions,  nor  for 
their  mercantile  selfishness. 

On  June  25th  the  interview  on  the  raft  at  Tilsit  took  place, 
Alexander  and  Napoleon  conversed  for  nearly  two  hours.  The 
King  of  Prussia  was  not  admitted  to  a  conference  on  which 
depended  the  fate  of  his  dynasty.  On  horseback  on  the  shore, 
he  pushed  his  steed  into  the  stream,  or  sat  with  his  eyes  fixed  on 
the  fatal  raft.  Even  the  personal  graces  of  the  Queen  of  Prussia 
could  not  soften  the  severity  of  the  treaty.  It  was  from  "  re- 
spect for  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  and  desire  to  unite  the  two 
nations  in  a  bond  of  eternal  friendship,"  that  Napoleon  "  con- 
sented "  to  restore  to  Frederic  William  III.  Old  Prussia,  Pome- 
rania,  Brandenburg,  and  Silesia  (July  8,  1807). 

These  articles  consummated  the  fall  of  Prussia.  On  the 
west,  Napoleon  deprived  her  of  all  her  possessions  between  the 
Rhine  and  the  Elbe,  with  Magdeburg  ;  he  dethroned  her  allies 
of  Brunswick  and  Cassel,  and  on  the  east  confiscated  all  Poland. 
He  thus  broke  the  two  wings  of  the  Prussian  eagle,  On  its  right 
he  established  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia  ;  on  its  left  the  Grand 
Duchy  of  Warsaw.  Dantzig  was  declared  a  free  town  ;  the 
district  of  Belostok,  part  of  the  dismembered  Black  Russia, 
again  became  Russian  soil.  The  States  of  the  princes  of 
Mecklenburg  and  Oldenburg  were  restored  to  them  ;  but  they 
had  to  suffer  the  occupation  of  their  territory  for  the  carrying 
out  of  the  continental  blockade,  and,  like  Saxony,  the  States  of 
Thuringia,  and  all  the  small  princes  of  Germany,  they  were 
forced  to  accede  to  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine.     The  King 


1 58  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

of  Prussia  adhered  to  the  continental  blockade.  His  dominions 
were  not  to  be  given  back  to  him  till  after  the  complete  pay- 
ment of  a  war  indemnity. 

Besides  the  conditions  relative  to  Prussia,  the  Treaty  of 
Tilsit  established  :  (i)  Russian  mediation  between  France  and 
England,  French  mediation  between  England  and  Turkey ;  (2) 
Alexander's  recognition  (likewise  that  of  Frederic  William  III.) 
of  the  kings  Joseph  of  Naples,  Louis  of  Holland,  Jerome  of 
Westphalia,  as  well  as  the  recognition  of  the  Confederation 
of  the  Rhine,  and  of  all  States  founded  by  Napoleon ;  (3)  recip- 
rocal guarantees  for  the  integrity  of  the  present  possessions  of 
Russia  and  France. 

A  second  treaty  with  secret  articles  stipulated  that  Cattaro 
should  be  restored  to  France  ;  that  the  Ionian  Isles  should  be 
hers  in  perpetuity  ;  that  if  Ferdinand  were  deprived  of  Sicily,  he 
should  have  no  other  equivalent  than  the  Balearic  Isles,  or  Cyprus 
and  Candia  ;  that  in  this  case  Joseph  should  be  acknowledged 
King  of  the  Two  Sicilies  ;  that  an  amnesty  should  be  accorded 
to  the  Montenegrins,  Herzegovinians,  and  other  peoples  who 
had  revolted  at  the  call  of  Russia  ;  that  if  Hanover  were  united 
to  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia,  Prussia  should  receive  in  exchange 
a  territory  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Elbe,  with  300,000  or  400,000 
inhabitants. 

A  third  treaty,  offensive  and  defensive,  provided  that  (1)  an 
ultimatum  should  be  addressed  to  England  on  the  1st  of  Novem- 
ber, and  that  if  it  had  no  results  war  should  be  declared  against 
her  by  Russia  on  the  1st  of  December  ;  (2)  that  Turkey  should 
be  allowed  a  delay  of  three  months  to  make  her  peace  with  the 
Tzar,  and  that  then  "  the  two  high  contracting  Powers  should 
come  to  an  understanding  to  withdraw  all  the  Ottoman  provinces 
in  Europe,  Constantinople  and  Roumelia  excepted,  from  the 
yoke  and  tyranny  of  the  Turks  "  ;  (3)  that  Sweden  should  be 
summoned  to  break  with  England,  and  if  she  refused  Denmark 
was  to  be  invited  to  take  part  in  the  war  against  her,  and  Finland 
was  to  be  annexed  to  Russia  ;  (4)  that  Austria  should  be  invited 
to  accede  to  the  system  of  continental  blockade  at  the  same  time 
as  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Portugal. 

In  certain  respects  this  peace  deserved  the  name  of  the 
"  treacherous  peace  "  that  the  English  agent  Wilson  applied  to 
it  in  his  disappointment.  Turkey  was  abandoned,  delivered  over, 
by  her  old  friend  France,  though  it  is  true  that  Napoleon  al- 
leged in  excuse  the  revolution  which  had  just  overthrown  his 
friend  the  Sultan  Selim.  He  acted  in  the  same  way  with  regard 
to  Sweden,  another  old  ally.  He  made  all  these  sacrifices  to 
have  the  right  of  executing  his  Macchiavellian  designs  against 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  T59 

Spain,  whose  troops  fought  loyally  under  his  banners.  Alexander 
did  not  make  fewer  sacrifices  of  honor  and  interest  to  the  new  com- 
bination. He  abruptly  consented  to  go  to  war  with  his  former 
ally,  England  ;  he  renounced  the  principle  of  the  integrity  of 
Prussia,  and  even  accepted  as  spoil  the  province  of  Belostok  ; 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  wrest  Finland  from  his  brother-in-law 
Gustavus  IV. ;  he  consented  to  see,  under  the  euphemism  of  the 
Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw,  a  nucleus  of  Poland  formed  on  the 
frontier.  This  strange  treaty  might,  however,  if  it  had  been 
loyally  executed,  have  contented  the  two  States.  The  part  of 
Russia  was  more  brilliant  on  the  whole  than  that  of  Napoleon : 
while  France  was  to  exhaust  herself  in  a  barren  war  with  Spain, 
splendid  vistas  opened  in  the  East  and  on  the  Danube  to  the 
ambition  of  Alexander.  Thanks  to  the  French  alliance,  he  could 
follow  on  this  side  the  glorious  traces  of  Sviatoslaf,  of  Peter 
the  Great,  and  his  grandmother  Catherine.  During  some  clays, 
at  least,  Alexander  seemed  enthusiastic  about  his  ally.  They 
exchanged  the  ribbons  of  their  orders ;  each  decorated  one  of  the 
bravest  soldiers  of  the  other  army;  the  grenadier  Lazaref 
received  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor ;  a  battalion  of  the 
Imperial  Guard  offered  a  fraternal  banquet  to  the  Preobra- 
ienski. 


INTERVIEW  AT    ERFURT  ;  WARS  WITH  ENGLAND,  SWEDEN,  AUSTRIA, 

TURKEY,  AND  PERSIA. 

The  change  in  the  foreign  policy  was  to  bring  with  it  a  change 
in  the  composition  of  the  Government.  Alexander  separated 
himself  from  the  friends  of  his  youth — Novossiltsof,  Kotchoubey, 
Strogonof,  and  Adam  Czartoryski — who  had  been  his  counsellors 
in  the  preceding  war.  Partisans  of  the  new  policy  were  called 
to  his  cabinet — Roumantsof  to  foreign  affairs,  and  Speranski  to 
the  Council  of  State.  The  latter  did  not  conceal  his  admiration 
for  the  genius  of  the  Emperor  of  the  French,  for  the  principles 
born  of  the  Revolution,  and  embodied  in  the  Civil  Code.  He 
seriously  desired  the  maintenance  of  the  French  alliance  ;  and 
M  Pogodine,  one  of  the  Slavophils  of  our  time,  has  not  the 
courage  to  condemn  this  policy.  "  It  proves,  on  the  contrary," 
he  says,  "  his  perspicacity  as  a  statesman.  The  conditions  im- 
posed by  Napoleon  I.  would  certainly  have  been  more  easy  to 
bear  than  those  imposed  by  Napoleon  III.  at  Sebastopol.  The 
destinies  of  Europe  would  have  been  different.  Sebastopol 
would  still  have  shone  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  the 
Continent  would  not  lately  have  been  inundated  with  blood  by 


160  H1ST0R  Y  OF  R USSIA. 

two  cruel  wars."  "  The  Eastern  question,"  says  another  Slavo- 
phil (M.  Oreste  Mtiller),  "  had  in  this  case  been  settled,  and 
English  preponderance  been  extinguished  in  the  Levant." 

We  must  recognize  the  fact  that  in  1807  Russian  opinion  was 
hostile  to  this  peace.  The  aristocracy  were  not  yet  reconciled 
with  the  state  of  things  to  which  the  Revolution  had  given  rise. 
The  Empress-mother  surrounded  herself  with  French  emigris ; 
her  court  was  the  centre  of  the  English  and  Austrian  party.  It 
was  not  only  the  sudden  abandonment  of  the  ancient  alliances  that 
was  blamed,  but  it  was  also  the  partial  restoration  of  the  hered- 
itary enemy,  Poland  ;  yet  the  question  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Warsaw  seemed  secondary — "  it  was  considered  as  a  conse- 
quence of  the  subjection  to  Napoleon."  The  dismissal  of  Louis 
XVIII.,  who  was  forced  to  leave  Mittau  for  England,  and  the 
attempt  at  Bayonne  against  the  Bourbons  of  Spain,  exasperated 
passions  still  further. 

Savary,  Napoleon's  ambassador,  had  to  bear  this  emotional 
reaction.  The  selection  of  him  was  by  no  means  happy,  as 
Savary  was  supposed  to  have  been  more  or  less  concerned  in 
the  affair  of  the  Due  d'Enghien.  "  Opinion  ran  so  high  against 
the  French,"  says  Savary,  "  that  no  furnished  hotel  would  take 
me  as  a  lodger.  .  .  .  The  general  reception  of  myself  and  my 
companions  was  in  inverse  proportion  to  the  kindness  of  the 
Emperor  Alexander.  During  the  first  six  weeks  of  my  stay  here 
I  could  not  get  a  single  door  opened  to  me.  The  Emperor  of 
Russia  saw  all  this,  and  wished  it  had  been  otherwise.  At  the 
moment  of  my  arrival  at  St.  Petersburg,  prayers  were  publicly 
recited  against  us,  and  particularly  against  the  Emperor  Napo- 
leon." The  shops  and  libraries  were  full  of  pamphlets  against 
France,  against  Napoleon,  and  against  the  French  ambassador, 
"  Nothing,"  continues  Savary,  "  was  equal  to  the  irreverence  with 
which  the  youthful  population  of  Russia  dared  to  express  itself 
about  its  sovereign.  For  some  time  I  was  much  disturbed  at  the 
consequences  this  licence  might  have  in  a  country  where  revolu- 
tions in  the  palace  were  only  too  common."  Napoleon's  envoy 
thought  it  even  his  duty  to  place  in  Alexander's  hands  a  cor- 
respondence lately  seized,  in  which  the  writer  sent  letters  of  this 
kind  from  Prussia  to  his  friends  in  the  interior  :  "  Have  you  no 
longer  any  Pahlens,  any  Zoubofs,  and  Bennigsens  ?  " 

Stedingk,  the  Swedish  ambassador,  also  wrote  to  Gustavus 
IV.  :  "  The  discontent  against  the  Emperor  Alexander  increases 
daily,  and  things  are  said  at  this  moment  which  are  frightful  to 
hear.  The  partisans  of  the  Emperor  are  in  despair,  but  there  is 
no  one  among  them  who  dares  to  remedy  the  evil,  or  to  reveal 
to  him  the  full  horror  of  the  situation.   A  change  of  government 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  1 6  £ 

Is  spoken  of,  not  only  in  private  conversations,  but  in  public 
meetings."  Some  echo  of  the  public  discontent  did,  how- 
ever, reach  the  ears  of  Alexander.  Admiral  Mordvinof  wrote 
to  him:  "Though  the  days  of  glory  may  be  passed,  those 
iai  which  Russia  laid  down  the  law ;  though  she  may  have 
lost  the  bright  hopes  which  she  cherished  in  our  youth,  the 
sons  of  Russia  are  ready  to  shed  the  last  drop  of  their  blood 
rather  than  bow  ignominiously  before  the  sword  of  him  whose 
only  advantage  over  them  is  that  he  has  known  how  to  use 
weakness,  treachery,  and  incapacity."  The  historian  Karamsin 
was  already  preparing  for  the  Emperor  his  work  on  '  Ancient 
and  Modern  Russia.' 

In  general,  the  literature  of  this  epoch  has  a  very  pronounced 
anti-French  character.  The  national  tragedies  of  Krioukovski 
and  Ozerof,  the  patriotic  odes  of  Joukovski,  even  the  comedies 
and  fables  of  "grandfather"  Krylof;  the  productions  of  the 
press,  represented  by  Glinka,  Gretch,  Batiouchkof,  and  Schichkof 
— all  breathe  hate  against  Napoleon  ;  aversion  for  that  new 
France  which  the  Russians,  accustomed  to  admire  and  imitate 
the  old  France  of  Versailles,  looked  on  with  the  eyes  of  the 
fmigris  themselves.  The  most  impetuous  of  the  Gallophobes 
of  this  epoch  was  the  Count  Rostopchine.  About  1807  he 
published  his  new  satire  '  Oh,  the  French  ! '  and  a  comedy  en- 
titled the  '  News,'  or  the  '  Living-dead,'  in  which  he  attacked 
the  alarmists,  and  the  exaggerated  partisans  of  Western  cus- 
toms. In  his  '  Spoken  Thoughts  on  the  Red  Staircase,'  in  1807, 
he  exclaims,  "  How  long  shall  we  go  on  imitating  monkeys  ?  .  .  . 
As  soon  as  a  Frenchman  arrives  who  has  escaped  the  gallows, 
we  fly  to  welcome  him,  and  he  represents  himself  as  a  prince  or 
a  gentleman  who  has  lost  his  fortune  for  faith  or  loyalty,  when 
in  reality  he  is  only  a  lackey,  a  shopman,  or  a  tax  collector,  or  a 
suspended  priest  who  has  fled  in  fear  from  his  country.  What 
do  they  teach  children  to-day  ?  To  pronounce  French  properly, 
to  turn  their  toes  out,  and  to  frizz  their  hair.  He  alone  is  a  wit 
whom  a  Frenchman  takes  for  his  countryman.  How  can  men 
love  their  country  when  they  do  not  even  know  their  native 
tongue  ?  Is  it  not  a  shame  ?  In  every  country  French  is  taught 
to  children,  but  only  that  they  may  understand  it,  and  not  in 
order  that  it  may  replace  their  native  language."  He  continues 
with  violent  invectives  against  French  ambition,  and  invokes 
the  brave  soldiers  of  Eylau.  "  Glory  to  thee,  victorious  Russian 
army,  bearing  the  sword  in  the  name  of  Christ !  Glory  to  our 
Emperor  and  to  our  mother  Russia  !  Salutation  to  you,  Russian 
heroes,  Tolstoi,  Kojine,  Galitsyne,  Doktourof,  Volkonski,  Dol- 
gorouki!    Eternal  peace  to  you  in  heaven,  young  and  gallant 


j  62  HISTOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Galitsyne  !  Triumph,  Russian  empire  !  the  enemy  of  the  human 
race  recoils  before  thee  ;  he  cannot  struggle  against  thy  invinci- 
ble strength.  He  came  as  a  savage  lion,  thinking  to  devour 
everything  ;  he  flies  like  a  hungry  wolf,  grinding  his  teeth." 

By  a  contradiction,  explained  by  his  education,  it  is  chiefly 
in  his  correspondence,  and  his  works  written  in  French,  that 
Rostopchine  attacks  the  nation  so  bitterly ;  it  is  in  French  that 
the  Russian  nobles,  pupils  of  the  French  of  the  18th  century, 
curse  France.  Miss  Wilmot,  with  an  obvious  intention  of  dis- 
paraging both  nations,  scoffs,  about  1805,  "  at  the  absurdity  of 
Bruin  the  bear,  when  he  gambols  with  a  monkey  on  his  shoul- 
ders." "  In  the  midst  of  this  adoption  of  French  manners, 
habits,  and  language,  there  is  something  stupidly  puerile  in  dec- 
lamation against  Bonaparte  and  the  French,  when  the  Russians 
cannot  dine  without  a  French  cook  to  make  ready  their  repast ; 
when  they  cannot  bring  up  their  children  without  the  help  of  ad- 
venturers come  from  Paris,  under  the  names  of  tutors  and  gover- 
nors ;  in  a  word,  when  all  their  notions  of  fashion,  luxury,  and 
elegance  are  borrowed  from  France.     What  arrant  folly  !  " 

Such  was  Russian  society  after  Tilsit.  From  these  evil  dis- 
positions towards  France,  the  indignation  raised  by  the  abomi- 
nable attempt  of  England  against  Denmark,  and  the  bombard- 
ment of  Copenhagen  in  a  time  of  peace  (September  1807),  only 
made  a  diversion  of  short  duration.  At  one  moment  we  might 
almost  believe  that  the  Peace  of  Tilsit  had  only  three  partisans 
in  Russia — the  Emperor,  the  Chancellor  Roumantsof,  and 
Speranski.  Yet  Alexander  began  to  learn  the  worth  of  more 
than  one  illusion  :  all  the  acts  of  his  ally  wounded  his  convic- 
tions. After  the  exile  of  the  kings  of  Sardinia  and  of  Naples, 
he  had  to  see  the  expulsion  of  the  house  of  Braganza,  the  de- 
thronement of  the  Bourbons  of  Spain,  the  forced  flight  of  the 
Pope  of  Rome ;  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  increased  be- 
yond all  measure,  now  extended  to  the  other  side  of  the  Elbe, 
and  had  set  foot  on  the  Baltic  by  way  of  Liibeck  and  Mecklen- 
burg ;  on  the  Vistula,  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw  received 
a  formidable  organization.  Tolstoi,  who  certainly  had  done 
nothing  to  make  himself  liked  at  Paris,  who  quarrelled  with  Ney, 
and  entered  into  relations  with  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  was 
not  able  in  any  way  to  soften  the  lot  of  Frederic  William  III., 
or  to  obtain  the  promised  evacuation  of  the  Prussian  States. 
Scanty  was  the  compensation  for  all  these  sacrifices.  The  first 
campaign  against  Sweden  had  been  far  from  brilliant.  The 
naval  war  with  England  had  ruined  Russian  commerce.  At  Con- 
stantinople, Guilleminot,  Napoleon's  ambassador,  had  managed 
to  conclude  an  armistice  between  Turkey  and  Russia,  io  virtu© 


Hli>  TOR  Y  OF  R USSIA.  1 63 

of  which  the  latte*  had  to  evacuate  the  Danubian  principalities 
There  was  no  longer  any  question  of  the  partition  of  the  Otto 
man  empire, that  brilliant  prospect  which  had  led  astray  the  lively 
imagination  of  Alexander. 

The  famous  Franco-Russian  alliance  was  shaken.  Napoleon 
who  had  on  his  hands  a  terrible  war  in  Spain,  and  who  descried 
on  the  horizon  another  war  with  Austria,  felt  that  he  must  give 
his  ally  some  satisfaction.  Then  the  interview  at  Erfurt  took 
place.  Alexander  came  accompanied  by  his  brother  Constan- 
tine,  the  ministers  Tolstoi,  Roumantsof,  Speranski,  and  the 
French  ambassador  Caulaincourt ;  Napoleon  brought  with  him 
Berthier,  the  diplomatists  Talleyrand,  Champagny,  Maret,  and 
the  Russian  ambassador  Tolstoi.  There  was  also  another  court, 
formed  by  his  German  vassal ;  the  Prince-Primate  of  the 
Rheinbund ;  the  Kings  of  Saxony,  Bavaria,  Wurtemberg,  and 
Westphalia;  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Baden,  Darmstadt,  Olden 
burg,  and  Mecklenburg;  and  the  sovereigns  of  Thuringia. 
Prussia  was  represented  by  Prince  William,  who  came  to  plead 
for  the  interests  of  his  brother ;  Austria  by  Baron  Vincent, 
charged  to  salute  the  two  emperors  in  the  name  of  his  master. 
The  irritable  self-respect  of  the  Russians  did  not  fail  to  take 
notice  of  the  superior  influence  of  the  French.  "  I  seem  to  see 
my  country  degraded  in  the  person  of  her  sovereign,"  says 
Nicholas  Tourgue'nief  with  passionate  exaggeration.  "There 
was  no  need  to  know  what  was  passing  in  European  cabinets  ; 
you  could  tell  at  a  glance  which  of  the  two  emperors  was  mas- 
ter at  Erfurt  and  in  Europe."  It  is  true  that  Napoleon  wished 
to  receive  the  Tzar  in  a  town  that  was  his  own  property,  at 
Erftirt ;  it  is  true  that  it  was  around  him  that  this  assemblage  of 
sovereigns  specially  pressed,  but  these  appearances  really  an- 
swered to  a  superiority  of  power.  Napoleon  neglected  nothing 
to  make  the  young  Emperor  forget  all  that  was  unequal  in  their 
respective  situations,  but  he  could  not  undo  the  fact  that  Alex- 
ander had  not  been  the  victor  at  Friedland. 

In  turn  with  fetes,  banquets,  balls,  theatrical  representations, 
and  hunting  parties,  serious  interests  were  discussed  between 
the  two  sovereigns  and  their  ministers.  On  the  12th  of  October. 
1808,  Champagny  and  Roumantsof  signed  the  following  conven- 
tion, which  was  to  remain  secret : — 1.  The  Emperors  of  France 
and  Russia  renewed  their  alliance  with  all  solemnity,  and  en- 
gaged to  make  peace  or  war  in  common.  2.  They  were  to  com- 
municate to  each  other  all  proposals  that  might  be  made  to 
them.  3.  They  were  to  propose  an  immediate  peace  to  Eng- 
land, in  a  manner  as  public  and  as  conspicuous  as  possible,  so 
as  to  render  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  BrU'sh  Cabinet  more  dif- 


1 64  HISTOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

ficult  (this  proposition  took  the  form  of  a  letter  addressed  to  the 
British  Government,  and  signed  by  the  two  emperors).  4.  They 
were  to  negotiate  on  the  base  of  uti possidetis:  France  was  only 
to  consent  to  a  peace  which  secured  Finland,  Wallachia,  and 
Moldavia  to  Russia;  Russia  to  a  peace  which  confirmed  France 
in  all  her  actual  possessions,  and  to  Joseph  Bonaparte  the  crown 
of  Spain  and  the  Indies.  5.  Russia  might  act  immediately  to 
obtain  the  Danubian  provinces  from  Turkey,  whether  by  peace 
or  war;  but  the  French  and  Russian  plenipotentiaries  had  come 
to  an  agreement  about  the  language  to  be  held,  "so  as  not  to 
compromise  the  existing  friendship  between  France  and  the 
Porte. "  6.  If  Russia,  by  the  acquisition  of  the  Danubian  prov- 
inces, or  France  about  its  Italian  or  Spanish  affairs,  found  them- 
selves exposed  to  a  rupture  with  Austria,  the  two  allies  were  to 
make  war  in  common.  Talleyrand  touched  on  the  question  of  a 
Russian  marriage  for  Napoleon.  The  recall  of  Tolstoi'  was  de- 
manded, and  he  was  replaced  by  Prince  Kourakine.  Prussia 
obtained  a  remission  of  twenty  millions  of  her  war  indemnity, 
and  the  evacuation  of  her  territory,  on  condition  that  she  should 
reduce  i*er  army  to  42,000  men.  To  recapitulate:  Alexander 
guaranteed  to  Napoleon  the  tranquillity  of  the  Continent  during 
his  operations  in  Spain,  while  Napoleon  ratified  the  seizure  of 
Finland  and  the  Danubian  provinces.  Napoleon  accompanied 
his  guest  some  way  on  the  road  from  Erfurt  to  Weimer;  they 
then  embraced  and  separated.  This  was  the  last  time  they  saw 
each  other  (September-October  1808). 

The  alliance  concluded  at  Tilsit  and  confirmed  at  Erfurt  was 
to  involve  Russia  in  three  new  wars — against  England,  against 
Sweden,  against  Austria.  Besides  these,  the  wars  still  continued 
which  had  begun  with  Turkey  in  1806,  and  against  Persia  and 
the  populations  of  the  Caucasus,  since  Alexander's  accession. 

The  war  with  England  only  presents  one  fact  worth  record- 
ing. The  Russian  fleet  of  the  Archipelago,  commanded  by  Ad- 
miral Seniavine,  was  forced,  when  it  regained  the  ocean,  to  seek 
refuge  in  the  Tagus,  where,  according  to  the  Convention  of 
Cintra,  signed  by  Junot,  it  was  obliged  to  surrender  to  Admiral 
Cotton.  It  was  convoyed  to  England;  the  officers  and  crews 
were  treated  there  with  diplomatic  courtesy,  and  instantly  sent 
back  to  Russia  at  England's  expense.  Five  years  later  Russia 
recovered  her  ships.  The  embargo  over  English  ships  was  kept 
up,  and  Russia  in  a  certain  measure  took  part  in  the  system  of 
continental  blockade. 

The  King  of  Sweden,  Gustavus  IV. ,  was  not  quite  in  his 
right  mind;  his  fury  against  Napoleon  equalled  his  powerless- 
ness  to  harm  him;  a  great  reader  of  the  Bible,  he  saw  in  the 


HIS  TOR  y  OF  R  USSIA.  1 65 

Emperor  of  the  French  the  beast  of  the  Apocalypse.  He  caused 
a  contemptible  pamphlet  called  the  '  Nights  of  St.  Cloud  '  to  be 
translated  into  Swedish.  After  having  concluded  an  armistice 
with  Mortier  in  1806,  he  had  broken  it  at  the  moment  of 
the  negotiation  of  Tilsit,  so  that  his  last  Pomeranian  fort- 
resses were  taken  from  him.  He  neither  knew  how  to  live  in 
peace  with  England,  whom  he  defied,  nor  with  Prussia,  whose 
misfortunes  he  insulted,  nor  with  his  brother-in-law  Alexander. 
He  alone  of  the  European  sovereigns  applauded  the  bombard- 
ment of  Copenhagen,  and  he  regaled  Admirals  Gambier  and 
Jackson  at  Helsingfors.  When  Alexander  had  to  make  him  the 
first  overtures,  relative  to  the  peace  with  France  and  the  adop- 
tion of  the  continental  system,  Gustavus  IV.  impertinently  re- 
turned the  ribbon  of  St.  Vladimir.  On  the  18th  of  February, 
1808,  he  signed  a  treaty  with  England.  Then  60,000  Russians, 
under  Buxhcewden,  crossed  the  Kiumen,  which  had  been,  since 
the  time  of  Elizabeth,  the  boundary  between  the  two  States.  A 
proclamation  was  addressed  to  the  Finns,  advising  them  not  to 
resist  "  their  friends,  their  protectors,"  and  to  appoint  deputies 
for  the  diet  which  Alexander  intended  to  assemble.  The  Swed- 
ish troops  were  dispersed,  and  retreated  to  the  north  ;  Finland 
was  almost  conquered  in  March  1808  :  Helsingfors,  the  impreg- 
nable Sveaborg,  Abo,  and  the  Isles  of  Aland  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Russians.  Fortune  seemed  for  one  moment  to  hesitate 
when  Klingspor  gained  two  important  successes  over  the  Rus- 
sians, but  he  was  immediately  after  obliged  to  retire  into  the 
deserts  of  Bothnia.  Another  proclamation  was  issued  to  the 
Finnish  soldiers  serving  in  the  Swedish  army,  inviting  them  to 
desert  with  arms  and  baggage,  promising  them  two  roubles  for 
every  gun,  one  rouble  for  a  sabre,  and  six  for  a  horse.  During 
the  winter  the  Russians  fortified  themselves  in  the  Isles  of 
Aland  ;  and  three  corps,  commanded  by  Kulner,  Bagration,  and 
Barclay  de  Tolly,  crossed  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia  on  the  ice,  and 
carried  the  war  into  the  Swedish  country.  A  military  revolution 
broke  out  in  Stockholm  (13th  of  March,  1809).  No  blood  was 
shed,  but  Gustavus  IV.  was  arrested,  and  confined  at  Drotting- 
holm  with  his  family.  Later  he  was  set  at  liberty,  and  travelled 
in  Europe  under  the  name  of  Colonel  Gustaffson.  His  uncle, 
the  Duke  of  Sudermania,  assumed  the  crown  under  the  title  of 
Charles  XIII.  He  signed  the  peace  of  Fredericksham,  which 
ceded  Finland  as  far  as  the  Tornea.  In  1810,  when  Christian 
Augustus  of  Holstein-Augustenburg,  the  prince  royal  elected  by 
the  States,  died,  Bernadotte,  marshal  of  France,  was  chosen  to 
fill  his  place.  Napoleon  had  little  sympathy  with  this  proceed- 
ing ;  he  would  have  preferred  a  Danish  prince,  whose  accession 


166  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

would  have  brought  about  a  Scandinavian  union.  The  success 
of  the  Swedish  war  caused  scant  enthusiasm  in  St.  Petersburgh. 
"  Poor  Sweden  !  poor  Swedes  ! "  said  the  people.  Finland,  cov- 
eted for  so  long,  had  lost  its  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  Russians  ; 
it  seemed  too  much  a  gift  of  Napoleon.  According  to  his  prom- 
ise, Alexander  had  convoked  the  Diet  of  Finland,  and  guaran- 
teed to  the  "  grand  duchy  "  its  privileges,  its  university,  and  its 
constitution. 

In  April,  1809,  began  Napoleon's  war  with  Austria  (fifth 
coalition).  Alexander,  whom  the  Treaty  of  Erfurt  obliged  to 
furnish  a  contingent,  had  done  all  he  could  to  prevent  this  war. 
He  had  warned  the  Cabinet  of  Vienna  that  he  had  made  an  al- 
liance with  Napoleon,  and  offered,  on  the  part  of  himself  and 
his  ally,  to  guarantee  the  integrity  of  the  Austrian  possessions 
Forced  to  put  a  contingent  under  arms,  he  gave  the  command 
of  30,000  men  to  Prince  Sergius  Galitsyne,  to  act  in  concert 
with  Poniatovski  and  Dombrovski,  generals  of  the  Grand  Duchy 
of  Warsaw,  against  the  Archduke  Ferdinand.  This  war  of  the 
Russians  against  the  Austrians  was  a  comedy  ;  they  detested 
their  Polish  allies,  and  feared  their  success  in  Gallicia  above 
everything.  In  the  whole  campaign  there  were  only  two  en- 
counters between  the  Russians  and  Austrians  :  at  the  battle  of 
Oulanovka  there  was  only  one  killed  and  two  wounded,  and  the 
Austrian  major  sent  excuses  to  Galitsyne,  saying  he  thought  he 
was  attacking  the  Poles  ;  at  the  battle  of  Podgourje',  under 
Cracow,  there  were  two  killed  and  two  wounded. 

The  conflicts  between  the  Russians  and  Poles  were  much 
more  frequent.  Galitsyne  allowed  Sandomir  to  be  taken  by  the 
Austrians  under  his  very  eyes,  and  Poniatovski  in  vain  de- 
nounced to  Alexander  this  "  traitorous  conduct."  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Russians  entered  Lemberg  when  the  Poles  had  al- 
ready taken  it,  and  attempted  to  prevent  the  people  swearing 
allegiance  to  Napoleon.  At  Cracow,  the  Russian  and  Polish 
armies  actually  came  to  blows.  The  Poles  were  uneasy  at  see- 
ing the  Muscovites  in  Gallicia,  and  the  Russians  attributed  all 
kinds  of  dangerous  projects  to  the  Poles.  "  Our  allies  disturb 
me  more  than  the  Austrians,"  writes  Galitsyne  to  his  master. 
He  complains  that  Poniatovski,  after  having'  taken  the  title  of 
commandant  of  the  "  Warsaw  troops,"  or  of  "  the  ninth  corps  of 
the  Grand  Army,"  appropriated  that  of  "  commandant  of  the 
Polish  army."  "  There  is  no  Polish  army,"  he  said  ;  "  there  is 
only  an  army  of  Warsaw."  "  The  Emperor  of  the  French  is  at 
liberty  to  give  what  names  he  chooses  to  the  corps  which  are 
under  his  orders,"  replied  Poniatovski. 

Galitsyne   announced   that  Poniatovski  had  reinforced   hi* 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  ^7 

army  with  Polish  soldiers,  deserters  from  Austrian  regiments, 
and  Lithuanian  nobles,  subjects  of  Russia.  In  the  theatres  of 
the  Gallician  towns,  the  King  of  Poland  was  represented  leaving 
his  tomb,  the  Dwina  and  the  Dnieper  forming  the  frontiers  of 
new  Poland.  Galitsyne  counselled  Alexander  to  take  from  the 
French  this  weapon  of  Polish  propaganda,  by  proclaiming  him- 
self restorer  of  Poland.  The  Tzar  refused,  alleging  the  incon- 
stancy of  the  Poles,  and  the  necessity  of  preserving  the  Lithua- 
nian provinces  from  all  contagion. 

At  the  Congress  of  Schonbrunn,  which  preceded  the  Treaty 
of  Vienna,  the  Emperor  of  Russia  declined  to  have  himself  rep- 
resented. He  did  not  intend  to  sanction  the  results,  but  by  so 
doing  he  left  Austria  unsupported.  She  was  obliged  to  cede 
her  Illyrian  provinces  and  all  Gallicia.  Western  Gallicia 
(1,500,000  souls)  Napoleon  added  to  the  Grand  Duchy  of  War- 
saw, while  he  gave  Eastern  Gallicia  and  a  population  of  400,000 
to  Russia  (October  14,  1809).  This  gift  was  not,  however,  suf- 
ficient to  compensate  Alexander  for  the  danger  of  an  aggran- 
dized Poland. 

The  war  with  Turkey  had  already  gone  on  for  many  years. 
In  1804  Russia  had  proposed  to  the  Divan  an  alliance  against 
France,  but  she  demanded  at  the  same  time  that  the  subjects  of 
the  Sultan  professing  the  orthodox  religion  should  be  placed 
under  the  immediate  protection  of  her  diplomatic  agents. 
Selim  III.  repelled  a  proposal  that  threatened  the  very  integrity 
of  his  empire.  He  tried  to  make  advances  to  France,  applauded 
the  victories  of  Napoleon,  and  after  Austerlitz  acknowledged  his 
imperial  title  and  sent  an  envoy  to  Paris  with  presents,  in  spite 
of  the  efforts  of  the  Russian  ambassador  Italinski.  After  Jena 
an  Ottoman  ambassador  left  for  Berlin,  to  strengthen  the  al- 
liance with  the  Padishah  of  the  French.  Ypsilanti  and  Morousi, 
hospodars  of  Wallachia  and  Moldavia,  who  were  devoted  to 
Russia,  were  stripped  of  their  dominions.  This  was  an  infrac- 
tion of  the  Peace  of  Iassy  with  Catherine  II. 

About  this  time  began  the  troubles  of  Servia.  The  Janissa- 
ries of  this  country  formed  a  turbulent  militia,  like  that  of  Egypt 
and  Algiers,  oppressed  the  Christian  populations,  entered  into  a 
contest  with  the  Pasha  of  Belgrade,  the  spahis,  or  noble  cavalry, 
and  other  Mussulmans,  and  even  trod  under  foot  the  authority 
of  the  Sultan.  They  would  only  obey  their  chiefs,  four  in  num- 
ber, who  were  called  dakhii  or  deys.  Against  these  insubordi- 
nate subjects  Selim  III.  authorized  the  resistance  of  the  rayahs. 

Many  of  the  Christians  had  learned  to  bear  arms  in  the  last 
war  of  Catherine  II.  and  Joseph  II.  against  the  Turks,  and 
many  had  served  with  the  Russian  or  Austrian  troops.  Pushed 
Vol.  2  R  21 


1 68  MS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA. 

to  extremity  by  the  murder  or  torture  of  a  certain  number  of 
their  knezes,  they  rose  against  the  Janissaries  and  the  deys  ;  put 
Tchernyi  George,  or  George  the  Bfeck,  a  rich  pork  merchant,  at 
their  head  ;  and  expelled  the  Mussulmans  from  Belgrade  and 
the  rest  of  the  fortresses,  affecting  all  the  time  to  be  only  exe- 
cuting the"  orders  of  the  Sultan.  When  Selim  wished  to  recall 
them  to  obedience  and  demanded  the  restitution  of  the  strong 
places,  they  broke  with  the  Sultan  himself,  and  declared  them- 
selves  independent.  They  would  have  been  crushed  by  the  su- 
perior forces  of  the  neighboring  pachas,  if  the  Russians  had  not 
taken  up  arms  in  1806,  which  freed  the  frontiers.  Alexander 
sent  them  an  auxiliary  corps  under  Colonel  Bala. 

The  Russian  ambassador  had  protested  against  the  deposi- 
tion of  Ypsilanti  and  Morousi,  and  against  the  violation  of  the 
Treaty  of  Iassy.  The  English  ambassador  had  almost  induced 
the  Divan  to  yield  on  October  17,  1806,  when  without  a  declara- 
tion of  war  the  Russian  general  Michelsen  crossed  the  frontier, 
invaded  Moldavia  with  35,000  men,  took  Khotin  and  Bender, 
entered  Bucharest,  and  advanced  towards  the  Danube.  The 
British  ambassador  wished  to  interpose  his  good  offices,  but  he 
was  not  listened  to,  and  left  Constantinople  with  Mat.  It  was 
then  that  the  English  fleet  under  Admiral  Duckworth  passed  the 
Dardanelles,  burnt  the  Turkish  vessels  in  the  Sea  of  Marmora, 
and  appeared  at  the  entrance  of  the  Bosphorus.  The  demon- 
stration failed  before  the  firmness  of  the  Sultan  Selim  and  the 
military  preparations  of  the  French  ambassador  Sebastiani. 
Engineer  and  artillery  officers  hastened  from  the  French  army 
of  Dalmatia.  The  English  vessels  retraced  their  path,  and  the 
Turkish  fleet,  crossing  the  Dardanelles  in  its  turn,  gave  battle 
to  the  Russian  Admiral  Seniavine,  in  the  waters  of  Tenedos. 
It  was  beaten.  A  short  time  after  Selim  III.  was  deposed  in 
consequence  of  a  revolt  of  the  Janissaries,  and  Napoleon  used 
his  fall  as  a  pretext  for  sacrificing  Turkey  at  Tilsit. 

Guilleminot,  Sebastiani's  successor,  had  received  an  order 
to  aid  the  Russians  "  in  everything,  not  officially,  but  effectively." 
In  spite  of  the  armistice  concluded  by  his  exertions,  the  Rus- 
sian troops  continued  to  occupy  the  principalities,  whose  ad- 
ministration was  confined  to  a  divan  composed  of  Russians  and 
Roumanian  boyards.  After  Erfurt,  the  Sultan  having  refused 
to  subscribe  to  the  dismemberment  of  his  empire,  the  war  re- 
commenced. The  campaign  of  1809  was  partially  successful, 
the  Russians  conquered  nearly  all  the  fortresses  of  the  Danube5 
but  were  defeated  in  Bulgaria  by  the  Grand  Vizier.  In  1810 
Field-marshal  Kamenski  reconquered  Bulgaria  as  far  as  the 
Balkans,  and  gained  a  brilliant  victory  at  Batynia,  near  Kouch* 


ItlSTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA.  1 69 

tchouk.  In  181 1  his  successor,  Koutouzof,  managed  to  draw 
the  Grand  Vizier  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Danube,  and  crushed 
him  at  Slobodzei.  The  imminence  of  a  rupture  with  France 
forced  the  Tzar  to  withdraw  five  divisions  of  the  army  of  the 
Danube.  A  congress  assembled  at  Bucharest  in  1812  : 
Russia  renounced  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  but  kept  Bessarabia, 
a  Roumanian  district,  with  the  fortresses  of  Khotin  and  Bender  ; 
the  Pruth  and  the  Lower  Danube,  where  Russia  acquired  Ismail 
and  Kilia,  formed  the  limit  of  the  two  empires.  The  hospodars 
of  Wallachia  and  Moldavia  were  to  be  restored,  and  all  the 
ancient  privileges  of  those  countries  confirmed.  The  eighth 
article  stipulated  for  an  amnesty  in  favor  of  the  Servians,  who 
were  to  remain  subjects  of  the  Sultan,  but  to  be  governed  by 
George  the  Black,  assisted  by  the  skoupchtchina  or  national 
assembly.  Turkey  took  no  part  in  the  wars  of  1812  and  1813  ; 
she  profited  by  them  to  violate  the  eighth  article,  to  crush  the 
Servian  army,  and  to  re-establish  the  ancient  order  of  things. 
George  the  Black,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Servian  voievodes, 
fled  to  Austrian  soil ;  others  were  put  to  death  ;  one  alone  re- 
mained in  the  country,  and  managed  to  gain  the  respect  and 
even  confidence  of  the  Turks.  This  was  Miloch  Obre'novitch. 
When  the  oppression  became  too  intolerable,  he  gave  the  signal 
for  a  new  insurrection  (1815),  reconquered  the  independence 
of  his  country,  and  made  the  Porte  accept  a  treaty  in  18 17  which 
recognized  the  autonomy  of  Servia  under  the  sceptre  of  the 
Sultan,  with  a  national  government  composed  of  Miloch,  the 
hereditary  prince,  and  a  skoupchtchina,  but  with  the  occupation 
of  the  principal  fortresses  by  Ottoman  garrisons.  This  system 
lasted  till  1817. 

At  the  same  time  as  the  Turkish  war,  hostilities  began  in 
1806  against  Persia,  which  wished  to  regain  its  authority  over 
Georgia,  and  against  the  tribes  of  the  Caucasus.  Prince  Titsi- 
anof,  Count  Goudovitch,  Tormassof,  and  Kotliarevski  all  distin- 
guished themselves  in  this  campaign.  In  1803  Titsianof  had 
caused  Maria,  the  Tzarina-mother  of  Georgia,  to  be  transported 
to  St.  Petersburg,  as  she  refused  to  recognize  the  legitimacy  of 
the  cession  made  by  her  eldest  son  to  Paul  I.  He  subdued  the 
Chirvan,  but  was  treacherously  assassinated  by  the  khan  Hus- 
sein-Kouli,  under  the  walls  of  Bakou.  Glasdnop  punished  Ali- 
Khan,  an  accomplice  in  the  crime,  by  depriving  him  of  Derbend. 
Persia  attempted  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  Caucasian  tribes; 
Prince  Abbas-Mirza  passed  the  Araxes  with  20,000  men,  but  was 
defeated.  This  laborious  war  prolonged  itself  till  1813.  A  more 
serious  struggle  already  absorbed  all  the  attention  and  forces  at 
Russia. 


2  7  0  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 


GRAND  DUCHY  OF    WARSAW  :   CAUSES   OF   THE   SECOND   WAR    WITH 

NAPOLEON. 

The  misunderstanding  between  Alexander  and  Napoleon 
became  more  bitter  day  by  day.  The  most  important  of  the 
causes  leading  to  it  were  the  following  : — i.  The  growth  of  the 
Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw  ;  2.  The  discontent  of  Napoleon  at  the 
conduct  of  the  Russians  in  the  campaign  of  1809 ;  3.  The 
abandonment  of  the  project  of  a  Russian  marriage,  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  an  Austrian  marriage  ;  4.  The  increasing  rivalry  of 
the  two  States  at  Constantinople  and  on  the  Danube  ;  5.  The 
Napoleonic  encroachments  of  18 10  in  northern  Germany  ;  6. 
Irritation  produced  by  the  continental  blockade  ;  7.  Mistrust 
occasioned  by  the  respective  armaments. 

At  the  Treaty  of  Tilsit,  Napoleon  had  formed  the  Grand 
Duchy  of  Warsaw  out  of  the  Prussian  provinces  (Warsaw,  Posen, 
and  Bromberg),  with  a  population  of  2,500,000.  At  the  Treaty 
of  Vienna  he  had  increased  it  by  Western  Gallicia  (Cracow, 
Radom,  Lublin,  and  Sandomir),  inhabited  by  1,500,000  people. 
He  had  reserved  to  himself  all  the  means  for  reconstituting 
Poland ;  he  had  given  Dantzig  to  no  one,  and  had  declared  it  a 
free  city  ;  the  Illyrian  provinces  of  Austria  might  in  his  hands 
soon  be  exchanged  for  the  rest  of  Gallicia;  the  treaty  of  1812 
with  the  Emperor  Francis  was  to  realize  this  calculation.  There 
was  no  need  even  to  take  away  the  acquisitions  of  the  third 
partitioner,  Russia,  for  at  that  time  Russia  only  possessed  Lithu- 
ania and  White  Russia.  Now  we  know  that  these  provinces 
are  not  Polish.  It  sufficed  to  take  back  what  he  had  himself 
ceded  to  Alexander  out  of  the  spoils  of  Prussia  and  Austria — 
Belostok  and  Western  Gallicia,  the  latter  being  still  in  great 
part  Little  Russia.  The  name  of  Poland  was  not  pronounced 
officially,  but  in  fact  she  already  existed.  No  doubt  she  had 
a  stranger,  the  King  of  Saxony,  for  the  sovereign,  but  the  an- 
cestors of  Frederic  Augustus  had  reigned  over  Poland,  and  it 
was  to  the  house  of  Saxony  that  the  patriots  of  the  3rd  of  May, 
1791,  had  wished  to  secure  the  succession  after  Stanislas  Ponia- 
tovski. 

The  Constitution  of  1807,  compiled  by  a  Polish  commission 
and  approved  by  Napoleon,  was  almost  that  of  the  3rd  of  May 
1 79 1.  Napoleon  had  advised  the  King  of  Saxony  to  dismiss 
the  Prussian  officials,  and  to  govern  Poland  with  the  Poles.  The 
executive  power  belonged  to  the  king,  who  was  assisted  by  a 
council  of  responsible  ministers  with  a  president  at  their  head. 
The  legislative  power  was  divided  between  the  king,  the  senate 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  I  y  I 

and  the  legislative  body.  The  senate  was  composed  of  six 
bishops,  six  palatines,  and  six  castellans ;  the  legislative  body, 
of  sixty  deputies  elected  in  the  districts  from  the  nobility,  and 
forty  deputies  from  the  towns ;  their  chief  work  lay  in  the  im- 
position of  taxes  and  the  compilation  of  the  laws.  After  the 
annexation  of  Western  Gallicia,  the  number  of  members  of 
parliament  was  increased.  Napoleon  could  boast  of  having 
rt  raised  a  tribune  in  the  midst  of  the  silent  atmosphere  of  the 
neighboring  governments  "  (Bignon).  The  Zamok,  the  old 
royal  castle  in  which  the  Parliament  sat,  was  the  centre  of  the 
Polands  still  disunited.  Napoleon  had  given  the  Grand  Duchy 
his  Civil  Code,  which  did  not  express  the  actual  social  state  of 
the  countrv,  but  on  which  the  social  state  was  to  model  itself. 
He  had  proclaimed  the  freedom  of  the  serfs,  while  preserving  to 
their  former  masters  the  right  of  property  over  the  lands.  With 
regard  to  this,  the  present  Russian  government  has  proceeded 
in  a  more  radical  fashion.  Napoleon  created  parliamentary 
Poland, — a  Poland  whose  liberty  was  more  based  on  equality 
than  in  former  times. 

The  army  of  the  Grand  Duchy  was  raised  to  30,000  men  after 
1807,  to  50,000  after  1809  ;  at  its  head  was  Joseph  Poniatovski, 
nephew  of  the  last  king,  the  man  who  was  vanquished  at  Zielence, 
the  hero  of  many  a  Napoleonic  battle.  Under  him  served  Dora- 
brovski,  a  soldier  of  the  campaign  of  1799  ;  Za'iontchek,  who  had 
fought  with  the  French  in  Egypt ;  and  Chlopicki.  the  intrepid 
leader  of  the  Polish  legions  in  Spain.  The  sentiments  which 
animated  the  army  are  still  reflected  in  the  recently  published 
'  Memoirs  of  a  Polish  Officer '  (which  are  those  of  General 
Brandt). 

In  a  country  where  even-  peasant  is  born  a  hoi*seman,  the 
cavalry  was  always  admirable ;  the  infantry  had  lately  been 
improved ;  the  artillery  had  been  organized  by  the  Frenchman 
Bontemps  and  Pelletier  ;  the  fortresses  of  Plock,  Modlin,  Thorn, 
and  Zamosc  restored  bv  Haxo  and  Alix.  The  army,  where  the 
former  serf  elbowed  the  gentleman,  was  a  school  of  equality. 
The  famous  legions  of  the  Vistula,  made  use  of  by  Napoleon  for 
his  own  private  ends,  acquired  an  imperishable  glory  in  the  wars 
of  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Russia. 

The  ministers  of  the  Grand  Duchy — Stanislas  Potocki 
(president  of  the  council).  Joseph  Poniatovski  (war),  Lubienski 
(justice),  Matuszevicz  (finance).  Sobolevski  (police),  &c. — were 
upright  and  intelligent  men.  Bignon,  Napoleon's  representative, 
was  full  of  devotion  to  Poland.  Unfortunately  he  was  replaced, 
on  the  eve  of  a  supreme  crisis,  by  the  Archbishop  of  ^Ialines, 
Abbe*   of  Pradt,  a  noisy  and  vain   character,   complicated   by 


i"j2 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


literary  vanity.  No  doubt  Warsaw  had  its  parties.  The  Czartory- 
skis  had  with  reason  made  up  their  minds,  in  case  of  need,  to 
have  recourse  to  Alexander's  generosity  ;  but  in  1811,  when  the 
guns  of  Warsaw  announced  the  birth  of  the  King  of  Rome,  all 
thought  themselves  in  safety  under  the  protectorate  of  France. 
Never  had  the  lively  and  witty  Polish  society  been  so  brilliant. 
The  growth  of  the  Warsaw  army,  which  was  in  reality  the  van- 
guard of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Vistula,  was  always  an  object  of 
disquietude  for  Alexander  and  anger  for  the  Russians.  The 
"  mixed  subjects  " — that  is,  the  nobles  who  held  lands  in  the 
Grand  Duchy  and  in  Lithuania,  and  who  passed  from  one  service 
to  the  other — were  the  pretext  for  perpetual  diplomatic  intrigues. 
Alexander  remarked  bitterly  that  they  worked  "  the  spectre  of 
Poland  "  on  the  uncertain  frontier  of  Lithuania. 

Napoleon  had  not  hesitated  to  complain  to  Kourakine  of  the 
way  in  which  the  Gallician  campaign  had  been  conducted. 
"  You  were  lukewarm,"  he  said  ;  "  you   never  drew  the  sword 


once." 


The  projected  marriage  with  Anna  Pavlovna,  Alexander's 
sister,  had  met  with  difficulties  in  more  than  one  direction.  The 
Empress-mother,  Mary  of  Wurtemberg,  had  been  invested  by 
the  will  of  Paul,  which  was  kept  at  the  Assumption  in  the 
Kremlin,  with  absolute  power  to  dispose  of  the  hands  of  her 
daughters.  Now,  she  alleged  that  the  laws  of  the  orthodox 
church  did  not  allow  marriage  with  a  divorced  man.  Anna  was 
already  betrothed  to  the  Prince  of  Saxe-Coburg,  as  her  sister 
Catherine,  perhaps  with  a  view  to  a  request  of  this  nature,  had 
been  married  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  Oldenburg.  The  first  marri- 
age of  Napoleon  had  been  barren,  and  he  might  a  second  time 
repudiate  his  wife.  The  difference  of  religion  was  another 
barrier.  Anna  could  not  embrace  Catholicism,  and  the  idea  of 
seeing  a  Russian  priest  and  chapel  at  the  Tuileries  was  repug- 
nant to  Napoleon.  Alexander  took  little  pains  to  press  the 
negotiation  ;  he  complicated  it  by  another  negotiation  for  a  formal 
promise  that  Poland  should  never  be  re-established.  Napoleon 
lost  all  patience,  and,  as  the  house  of  Hapsburg  seemed  to  be 
ready  to  meet  his  wishes,  the  Austrian  marriage  was  concluded. 

Alexander  felt  both  anger  and  regret.  A  closer  alliance 
between  France  and  Austria  was  prejudicial  to  the  essential  in- 
terests of  Russia  in  the  East  and  on  the  Danube.  In  1809 
Talleyrand  had  submitted  to  Napoleon  a  project  which  consisted 
in  indemnifying  Austria  by  putting  her  in  possession  of  the  Rou- 
manian principalities  and  of  the  Slav  provinces  of  Turkey,  which 
would  have  created  a  permanent  conflict  of  interests  between 
Russia  and  Austria.     The  former,  repulsed  from   the    Danube, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


173 


would  have  been  forced  to  turn  towards  Central  Asia,  towards 
Hindostan.  In  this  emergency  she  would  in  her  turn  have 
found  herself  at  perpetual  war  with  England,  and  all  germs  of 
coalition  against  the  French  empire  would  by  this  means  have 
been  extinguished.  In  the  same  year  Duroc  laid  before  Napo- 
leon another  memorial,  in  which  he  showed — 1,  that  the  Russian 
alliance  was  contrary  to  French  traditional  policy  ;  2,  that  the 
French  possessions  in  Italy  and  Dalmatia  were  threatened  by 
the  action  of  Russia  in  Servia  and  Greece  ;  3,  that  Russia  only 
defended  Prussia,  because  she  reckoned  on  the  use  of  her  army 
if  needed ;  4,  that  she  favored  the  Spanish  enterprise,  in  the 
hope  of  seeing  200,000  Frenchmen  perish  in  the  Peninsula ;  5, 
that  the  interest  of  the  Napoleonic  dynasty  demanded  that 
Russia  should  be  pushed  as  far  as  possible  to  the  East ;  6,  that 
the  dismemberment  of  Poland  had  been  the  shame  of  the  old 
dynasty,  and  that  her  re-establishment  was  necessary  to  the 
greatness  of  France  and  the  security  of  Europe.  Prince  Koura- 
kine  managed  to  procure  a  copy  of  this  memorial,  and  sent  it 
to  the  Emperor  Alexander  (March  1809),  pointing  out  "how 
dangerous  it  was  for  Russia  to  permit  the  ruin  of  Austria." 
Alexander  remembered  this  in  the  campaign  of  1809. 

In  1810  the  Senatus  Consultum  of  July  pronounced  the  union 
of  the  whole  of  Holland  to  the  French  empire  ;  that  of  Decem- 
ber, the  future  union  of  three  Hanseatic  towns,  of  Oldenburg, 
and  other  German  territories.  It  was  not  a  simple  occupation 
to  secure  the  execution  of  the  continental  blockade  ;  it  was  an 
annexation.  In  the  jus  gentium  as  understood  by  Napoleon, 
these  decisions  of  the  Senate  were  to  replace  treaties.  Where 
were  these  encroachments  to  stop  ?  Hamburg,  Bremen,  and 
Lubeck — free  towns,  whose  existence  was  an  object  of  interest 
to  the  commerce  of  the  whole  world,  and  especially  to  Russia — 
had  become  French.  By  means  of  Lubeck,  the  French  empire 
would  strengthen  her  hold  on  the  Baltic,  on  that  "  Varangian 
Sea  "  where  the  Russians,  since  Peter  I.,  disputed  the  prepon- 
derance of  the  Scandinavians.  Another  of  these  annexations, 
that  of  Oldenburg,  wounded  Alexander  yet  more  deeply.  He 
saw  his  sister  Catherine  and  her  husband,  robbed  of  their 
crowns,  fly  to  St.  Petersburg.  The  wrong  to  his  interests  and  his 
affections  was  yet  further  increased  by  the  want  of  respect  tow- 
ards him.  He  had  neither  been  consulted  nor  informed  of  the 
step.  Like  the  rest  of  the  world,  Alexander  heard  of  this  con- 
quest, in  the  height  of  peace,  through  the  Moniteur.  It  is  true 
that  since  that  time  many  other  German  allies  of  the  imperial 
house  have  been  deprived  of  their  crowns  or  their  essential  pre- 
rogatives, without  any  remonstrance  from  Russia. 


4  j  4  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Kourakine  was  charged  to  communicate  with  Champagny, 
who  talked  of  necessity,  and  assured  him  that  the  Grand  Duke 
should  receive  an  indemnity.  The  Russian  court  sent  a  note  to 
all  the  other  cabinets,  in  which,  while  affirming  the  maintenance 
of  her  alliance  with  Napoleon,  she  protested  against  the  annexa- 
tion of  Oldenburg.  The  conqueror  was  deeply  irritated  at  the 
publicity  of  this  note,  as  well  as  at  the  remarks  accompanying 
the  protest. 

As  to  the  continental  blockade,  although  it  was  observed  by 
Russia  less  strictly  than  by  France,  she  still  suffered  cruelly 
from  it.  The  commerce  with  England  was  stopped.  In  1801 
the  Russian  aristocracy  had  made  a  plot  to  re-open  the  sea  to 
her  hemp,  her  grains,  and  other  natural  productions  of  the 
country.  The  rouble  which  was  worth  67  kopecks  in  1807,  was 
not  worth  more  than  25  in  1810.  In  December  of  this  same 
year,  Alexander  promulgated  an  edict  which,  with  the  apparent 
design  of  preventing  specie  from  leaving  the  country,  proscribed 
the  importation  of  objects  of  luxury  from  whatever  country  they 
came,  particularly  of  silks,  ribbons,  embroideries,  bronzes,  and 
porcelains :  wine  was  heavily  taxed.  This  chiefly  struck  at 
French  commerce.  The  forbidden  goods  were  ordered  to  be 
burnt.  Napoleon  was  exasperated,  and  said,  "  I  would  rather 
have  received  a  blow  on  the  cheek." 

During  some  time  Kourakine,  the  Russian  envoy  at  Paris, 
while  recognizing  the  fact  that  Russia  could  not  cope  with  Na- 
poleon, advised  a  policy  of  intimidation  by  collecting  great  arm- 
aments. Accordingly  five  divisions  of  the  army  of  the  Danube 
were  recalled  ;  a  levy  of  four  men  in  every  five  hundred  was  to 
be  raised,  and  the  fortresses  of  the  Dwina  and  the  Dnieper 
were  to  be  repaired.  These  preparations  provoked  those  of  Na- 
poleon. Such  an  emulation  in  threatening  measures  naturally 
led  to  a  rupture.  Soon  the  "  army  of  Warsaw  "  was  put  on  a 
warlike  footing,  the  army  of  occupation  in  Northern  Germany 
was  reinforced  ;  Napoleon  summoned  some  regiments  from  Spain, 
and  notably  the  Polish  legions ;  the  army  of  Naples  advanced 
towards  Upper  Italy,  the  army  of  Italy  towards  Bavaria ;  in  the 
vast  military  establishment  known  as  the  Grand  Army,  and 
which  covered  the  entire  Continent,  from  Madrid  to  Dantzig,  a 
movement  from  the  West  to  the  East  was  felt.  The  grievances 
of  the  two  emperors  against  each  other  were  brought  forward  in 
some  lively  interviews  of  Napoleon,  first  with  the  ambassador 
Kourakine,  and  then  with  the  aide-de-camp  Tchernichef,  Alex- 
ander's envoy  extraordinary.  Napoleon  received  Tchernichef 
courteously,  and  even  pinched  his  ear,  but  passionately  dis- 
cussed all  the  questions  relative  to  Poland,  to  the  Danubian 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


175 


principalities,  to  Oldenburg,  to  the  continental  blockade,  to  the 
oukaze  of  December,  to  the  menacing  preparations  of  Alexan- 
der. He  at  once  rejected  the  idea  of  giving  Dantzig  as  an  in- 
demnity for  Oldenburg.  The  mission  of  Tchernichef  was  unsuc- 
cessful ;  he  even  compromised  himself  seriously  :  an  employ^  of 
the  War  Minister  was  shot  for  allowing  himself  to  be  bribed, 
and  for  having  delivered  to  him  the  estimates  of  the  Grand 
Army.  It  was  about  this  period  that  Napoleon  ordered  the 
publication  in  the  newspapers  of  a  series  of  articles  wherein  he 
proved  "  that  Europe  found  herself  in  train  to  become  the  prey 
of  Russia,"  and  spoke  of  "  the  invasion  that  must  be  checked, 
of  the  universal  domination  that  must  be  extinguished."  It  was 
then  that  Lesur  published  the  famous  book  entitled  '  Of  the 
Progress  of  the  Russian  Power,'  in  which  we  meet  for  the  first 
time  with  the  apocryphal  document  called  the  '  Will  of  Peter  the 
Great.' 

Napoleon  recalled  Caulaincourt,  whom  he  thought  too  Rus- 
sian, and  who,  being  conciliatory,  was  much  embarrassed  with 
the  part  he  had  to  play.  He  replaced  him  by  Lauriston,  who 
could  not  reckon  on  the  confidence  of  Alexander.  Everything 
proved  that  war  was  inevitable.  Alexander,  like  Napoleon, 
only  negotiated  in  order  to  gain  time  and  finish  his  preparations. 
The  rupture  of  the  alliance  was  patent  to  all.  At  the  court  of 
Murat  the  French  envoy,  Durand,  fought  a  duel  with  the  Russian 
envoy  Dolgorouki.  Alexander  suddenly  disgraced  Speranski, 
the  friend  of  France  ;  he  sent  for  Stein,  the  great  German 
patriot,  Napoleon's  mortal  foe,  placed  by  him  under  the  ban  of 
the  Confederation.  Russia  hastened  to  conclude  peace  with 
Turkey  ;  she  negotiated  with  Sweden  for  an  alliance,  with  Eng- 
land for  a  treaty  of  subsidies.  Napoleon,  on  his  side,  signed 
two  conventions  with  Prussia  and  Austria,  which  assured  him 
the  help  of  20,000  Prussians  and  30,000  Austrians  in  the  pro- 
jected expeditions.  Sweden  and  Turkey  would  have  been  more 
certain  allies,  but  the  treaties  of  Tilsit  and  Erfurt  had  alienated 
them  from  the  French  ;  Sweden  had  suffered,  like  Russia,  from 
the  continental  blockade,  and  the  Prince  Royal  Bernadotte  had 
not  pardoned  Napoleon  for  his  refusal  to  give  him  Norway,  and 
for  having  occupied  Swedish  Pomerania.  On  the  9th  of  May, 
1 81 2,  Napoleon  left  Paris  for  Dresden,  for  the  centre  of  his 
army.  The  ambassadors,  Kourakine  and  Lauriston,  demanded 
their  passports. 


3  76  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

THE   "  PATRIOTIC   WAR  :  "    BATTLE  OF    BORODINO  ;    BURNING   OF 
MOSCOW  :    DESTRUCTION   OF   THE    GRAND   ARMY. 

With  the  military  resources  of  France,  which  then  counted 
130  departments,  with  the  contingents  of  her  Italian  kingdoms, 
of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of  War- 
saw, and  with  the  auxiliary  forces  of  Prussia  and  Austria,  Napo- 
leon could  bring  a  formidable  army  into  the  field.  On  the  1st  of 
June  the  Grand  Army  amounted  to  678,000  men,  356,000  of  whom 
were  French,  and  322,000  foreigners.  It  included  not  only  Belgi- 
ans, Dutchmen,  Hanoverians,  Hanseats,  Piedmontese,  and  Ro- 
mans, then  confounded  under  the  name  of  Frenchmen,  but  also 
the  Italian  army,  the  Neapolitan  army,  the  Spanish  regiments, 
natives  of  Germany,  Badois,  Wurtemburgers,  Bavarians,  Darm- 
stadt Hessians,  Jerome's  Westphalians,  soldiers  of  the  half- 
French  grand  duchies  of  Berg  and  Frankfort,  Saxons,  Thurin- 
gians,  and  Mecklenburgers.  Besides  Napoleon's  marshals,  it  had 
at  its  head  Eugene,  Viceroy  of  Italy ;  Murat,  King  of  Naples  ; 
Jerome,  King  of  Westphalia  ;  the  princes  royal  and  heirs  of 
nearly  all  the  houses  in  Europe.  The  Poles  alone  in  this  war, 
which  recalled  to  them  that  of  1612,  mustered  60,000  men  under 
their  standards.  Other  Slavs  from  the  Illyrian  provinces, 
Carinthians,  Dalmatians,  and  Croats,  were  led  to  assault  the 
great  Slav  empire.  It  was  indeed  the  "  army  of  twenty  nations," 
as  it  is  still  called  by  the  Russian  people. 

Napoleon  transported  all  these  races  from  the  West  to  the 
East  by  a  movement  similar  to  that  of  the  great  invasions,  and 
swept  them  like  a  human  avalanche  against  Russia. 

When  the  Grand  Army  prepared  to  cross  the  Niemen,  it  was 
arranged  thus  : — To  the  left,  before  Tilsit,  Macdonald  with 
10,000  French,  and  20,000  Prussians  under  General  York  of 
Wartenburg  ;  before  Kovno,  Napoleon  with  the  corps  of  Davoust, 
Oudinot,  Ney,  the  Guard  commanded  by  Bessieres,  the  immense 
reserve  cavalry  under  Murat — in  all  a  total  of  180,000  men  ; 
before  Pilony,  Eugene  with  50,000  Italians  and  Bavarians ;  be- 
fore Grodno,  Jerome  Bonaparte,  with  60,000  Poles,  Westpha- 
lians, Saxons,  &c.  We  must  add  to  these  the  30,000  Austrians 
of  Schwartzenberg,  who  were  to  fight  in  Gallicia  as  mildly 
against  the  Russians  as  the  Russians  had  against  the  Austrians 
in  1809.  Victor  guarded  the  Vistula  and  the  Oder  with  30,000 
men,  Augereau  the  Elbe  with  50,000.  Without  reckoning  the 
divisions  of  Macdonald,  Schwartzenberg,  Victor,  and  Augereau, 
it  was  with  about  290,000  men,  half  of  whom  were  French,  that 
Napoleon  marched  to  cross  the  Niemen  and  threaten  the  centre 
of  Russia. 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  \  y  y 

Alexander  had  collected  on  the  Niemen  90,000  men  com- 
manded by  Bagration  ;  on  the  Bug,  tributary  of  the  Vistula, 
60,000  men,  commanded  by  Barclay  de  Tolly  ;  those  were  what 
were  called  the  Northern  army  and  the  army  of  the  South.  On 
the  extreme  right,  Wittgenstein  with  30,000  men  was  to  oppose 
Macdonald  almost  throughout  the  campaign  ;  on  the  extreme 
left,  to  occupy  the  Austrian  Schwartzenberg,  as  harmlessly  as 
possible,  Tormassof  was  placed  with  40,000.  Later  this  latter 
army,  reinforced  by  50,000  men  from  the  Danube,  became  for- 
midable, and  was  destined,  under  Admiral  Tchitchagof,  seriously 
to  embarrass  the  retreat  of  the  French.  In  the  rear  of  all  these 
forces  was  a  reserve  of  80,000  men — Cossacks  and  militia  (opolt- 
chenii).  Only  a  few  contingents  of  the  opoltchenie,  brave  mougiks 
with  long  beards,  were  to  figure  in  the  campaign,  but  its  impos- 
ing total  of  612,000  men  could  hardly  have  existed  except  on 
paper.  In  reality,  to  the  290,000  men  Napoleon  had  mustered 
under  his  hand,  the  Emperor  of  Russia  could  only  oppose  the 
150,000  of  Bagration  and  Barclay  de  Tolly.  He  counted  on  the 
devotion  of  the  nation.  "  Oh  that  the  enemy,"  says  a  proclama- 
tion of  the  Tzar,  "  may  encounter  in  each  noble  a  Pojarski,  in 
each  ecclesiastic  a  Palitsyne,  in  each  citizen  a  Minine.  Rise,  all 
of  you  !  With  the  cross  in  your  hearts  and  arms  in  your  hands, 
no  human  force  can  prevail  against  you." 

At  the  opening  of  the  campaign  the  head-quarters  of  Alexan- 
der were  at  Wilna.  Besides  his  generals,  he  had  there  his 
brother  Constantine,  his  ministers  Araktcheef,  Balachef,  Kot- 
choubey,  and  Volkonski.  There  were  also  collected  refugees  of 
all  nations — Stein  from  among  the  Germans,  the  generals  Wol- 
zogen  and  Pfuhl,  the  Piedmontese  Michaux,  the  Swede  Armfelt, 
and  the  Italian  Paulucci.  They  deliberated  and  argued  much. 
To  attack  Napoleon  was  to  furnish  him  with  the  opportunity  he 
wished ;  to  retire  into  the  interior,  as  Barclay  had  advised  in 
1807,  seemed  hard  and  humiliating.  A  middle  course  was 
sought  by  adopting  the  scheme  of  Pfuhl — to  establish  an  in- 
trenched camp  at  Drissa,  on  the  Dwina,  and  to  make  it  a 
Russian  Torres  Vedras.  The  events  in  the  Peninsula  filled  all 
minds.  Pfiihl  desired  to  act  like  Wellington  at  Torres  Vedras. 
Others  proposed  a  guerilla  warfare  like  that  of  Spain.  When 
they  heard  of  the  passage  of  the  Niemen,  Barclay  had  to  fall 
back  on  the  Dwina,  and  Bagration  on  the  Dnieper. 

Napoleon  made  his  entry  into  Wilna,  the  ancient  capital  of 
the  Lithuanian  Gedimin.  He  had  said  in  his  second  proclama- 
tion, "  The  second  Polish  war  has  begun  !  "  The  Diet  of  War- 
saw had  pronounced  the  re-establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  Po- 
land, and  sent  a  deputation  to  Wilna  to  demand  the  adhesion  of 


1 78  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

Lithuania,  and  to  obtain  the  protection  of  the  Emperor.  We 
can  understand  with  what  ardor  the  Lithuanian  nobility  crowded 
around  Napoleon.  The  decision  of  the  Polish  diet  was  solemnly 
accepted  by  the  Lithuanians.  "This  ceremony,"  relates  Fezen- 
sac,  "  took  place  in  the  cathedral  of  Wilna,  where  all  the  no- 
bility had  assembled  together.  The  men  were  dressed  in  the 
ancient  Polish  costume,  the  women  adorned  with  red  and  violet 
ribbons,  the  national  colors."  As  to  the  Poles,  properly  so 
called,  although  Napoleon,  by  dispersing  the  army  of  60,000 
men  among  the  divisions,  had  rendered  it  invisible,  nothing 
could  equal  their  enthusiasm ;  boundless  hope  filled  all  hearts. 
The  work  begun  at  Tilsit  at  the  expense  of  Prussia,  continued  at 
Vienna  at  the  expense  of  Austria,  was  to  be  finished  at  the  ex- 
pense of  Russia !  At  last  they  were  to  taste  the  revenge  which 
France  had  prepared  for  eighteen  years  for  the  faithful  legions 
of  Dombrovski !  This  was  the  splendid  gift  with  which  the  Em- 
peror was  going  to  reward  the  zeal  of  his  grumblers  of  the  Vis- 
tula! "The  young  officers  had  recovered  their  confidence  in 
the  star  of  Napoleon,"  relates  Brandt.  "  Our  elders  might  well 
laugh  at  our  enthusiasm,  and  call  us  mad  and  possessed  ;  we 
only  dreamed  of  battles  and  victories ;  we  feared  only  one  thing, 
a  too  great  anxiety  for  peace  on  the  part  of  the  Russians.  .  .  . 
We  had  in  our  ranks  numerous  descendants  of  the  Lithuanians 
who  had  fought  a  hundred  years  before,  under  the  banners  of 
Charles  XII. — Radzivills,  Sapiehas,  Tysenhauses,  and  Chods- 
kos."  However,  the  enormous  incapacity  of  Pradt  at  Warsaw, 
and  the  somewhat  reserved  answers  of  Napoleon  at  Wilna,* 
caused  a  little  hesitation.  In  Lithuania  the  movement  could 
not  be  truly  national,  since  the  people  were  not  Poles.  Napo- 
leon, whether  to  please  Austria,  whether  to  preserve  the  possi- 
bility of  peace  with  Russia,  or  whether  he  was  afraid  to  make 
Poland  too  strong,  only  took  half-measures.  He  gave  Lithuania 
an  administration  distinct  from  that  of  Poland;  assembled  a 
commission,  which  voted  the  creation  of  a  Lithuanian  army, 
formed  of  four  regiments  of  infantry  and  five  of  cavalry ;  and 
spent  400,000  francs  in  aid  of  their  equipment.  A  national 
guard — of  infantry  in  the  towns,  of  horse  in  the  country — was  to 
watch  over  frhe  seourity  of  the  convoys,  and  to  help  the  French 

*  "  If  I  had  reigned  during  the  partitions  of  Poland,"  replied  Napoleon 
to  the  deputation  from  Warsaw,  "  I  should  have  armed  all  my  subjects  to 
support  you.  I  applaud  all  that  you  have  done  ;  I  authorize  the  efforts  that 
you  wish  to  make  :  all  that  depends  on  me  to  second  your  resolutions  I  will 
do.  But  I  have  guaranteed  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria  the  integrity  of  his 
States.  Let  Lithuania,  Samogitia,  Volhynia,  the  Ukraine,  and  Podolia  be 
animated  by  the  same  spirit  that  I  have  seen  in  Great  Poland,  and  Provi- 
dence will  crown  with  success  the  sanctity  of  your  cause." 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  1 79 

gendarmerie  to  maintain  discipline.  A  last  attempt  to  negotiate 
a  peace  had  failed.  To  gain  time,  Alexander  had  sent  Balachef 
to  Wilna.  Napoleon  had  proposed  two  unacceptable  conditions 
— the  abandonment  of  Lithuania,  and  the  declaration  of  war 
against  Great  Britain.  If  Napoleon,  instead  of  plunging  into 
Russia,  had  contented  himself  with  organizing  and  defending 
the  ancient  principality  of  Lithuania,  no  power  on  earth  could 
have  prevented  the  re-establishnent  of  the  Polish-Lithuanian 
State  within  its  former  limits.  The  destinies  of  France  and 
Europe  would  have  been  changed. 

The  road  which  led  to  Wilna  passed  through  a  sort  of  natural 
pass,  due  to  the  configuration  of  the  Dwina  and  the  Dnieper,  the 
one  making  an  angle  near  Vitepsk,  the  other  near  Orcha,  there- 
by ceasing  to  bar  the  way  to  the  invader.  There  were  still  the 
raised  works  at  Drissa  on  the  Dwina,  the  Torres  Vedras  of  the 
learned  Pfiihl ;  but  the  place  of  the  camp  was  so  badly  chosen, 
with  the  river  at  the  back,  and  only  four  bridges  in  case  of  re- 
treat, and  was  so  easily  turned  from  Vitepsk,  that  it  was  resolved 
to  abandon  it.  There  existed  in  the  army  immense  irritation 
against  Pftihl,  against  the  Germans,  against  the  division  of  com- 
mands. The  Tzar  seemed  out  of  place  with  the  army ;  they  re- 
membered Austerlitz.  The  Russian  nobles  made  up  their  minds 
to  induce  him  to  depart ;  Araktcheef  himself,  and  Balachef,  the 
Minister  of  Police,  respectfully  represented  to  him  that  his  pres- 
ence would  be  more  useful  at  Smolensk,  at  Moscow,  or  at  St. 
Petersburg,  where  he  could  convoke  the  orders  of  the  State,  de- 
mand sacrifices  both  in  men  and  money,  and  keep  up  the  patri- 
otic enthusiasm.  From  that  time  Barclay  and  Bagration  com- 
manded their  armies  alone. 

Napoleon  feared  to  penetrate  into  the  interior ;  he  would 
have  liked  to  gain  some  brilliant  success  not  far  from  the 
Lithuanian  frontier,  and  seize  one  of  the  two  Russian  armies. 
The  vast  spaces,  the  bad  roads,  the  misunderstandings,  the 
growing  disorganization  of  the  army,  caused  all  his  movements  to 
fail  Barclay  de  Tolly,  after  having  given  battle  at  Ostrovno  and 
Vitepsk,  fell  back  on  Smolensk ;  Bagration  fought  at  Mohilef 
and  Orcha,  and  in  order  to  rejoin  Barclay  retreated  to  Smolensk. 
There  the  two  Russian  generals  held  council.  Their  troops 
were  exasperated  by  this  continual  retreat,  and  Barclay,  a  good 
tactician,  with  a  clear  and  methodical  mind,  did  not  agree  with 
Bragration,  impetuous,  like  a  true  pupil  of  Souvorof.  The  one 
held  firmly  for  a  retreat,  in  which  the  Russian  army  would 
become  stronger  and  stronger,  and  the  French  army  weaker  and 
weaker,  as  they  advanced  into  the  interior  ;  the  other  wished  to 
act  on  the  offensive,  full  of  risk  as  it  was.     The  army  was  on  th« 


i So  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

side  of  Bagration,  and  Barclay,  a  German  of  the  Baltic  provinces, 
was  suspected  and  all  but  insulted.  He  consented  to  take  the 
initiative  against  Murat,  who  had  arrived  at  Krasnoe,  and  a 
bloody  battle  was  fought  (August  14).  On  the  16th,  17th,  and  18th 
of  August  another  desperate  fight  took  place  at  Smolensk,  which 
was  burnt,  and  20,000  men  perished.  Barclay  still  retired, 
drawing  with  him  Bagration.  In  his  retreat  Bagration  fought 
Ney  at  Valoutina  ;  it  was  a  lesser  Eylau  :  15,000,  men  of  both 
armies  remained  on  the  field  of  battle. 

Napoleon  felt  that  he  was  being  enticed  into  the  interior  of 
Russia.  The  Russians  still  retreated,  laying  waste  all  behind 
them.  "  Tell  us  only  when  the  moment  is  come,  we  will  set  fire  to 
our  isbas"  they  said.  The  French  lost  three  days  at  Smolensk  ; 
but  the  Russians  on  their  side  were  astonished  that  the  ancient 
fortress,  which  had  sustained  so  many  lengthy  sieges  in  the 
16th  and  17th  centuries,  had  only  resisted  Napoleon  that  time. 
The  Grand  Army  melted  before  their  very  eyes.  From  the 
Niemen  to  Wilna,  without  every  having  seen  the  enemy,  it  had 
lost  50,000  men  from  sickness,  desertion,  and  marauding ;  from 
Wilna  to  Mohilef  nearly  100,000.  Ney  was  reduced  from  36,000 
men  to  22,000 ;  Oudinot  from  38,000  to  23,000  ;  Murat  from 
22,  000  to  14,000  ;  the  Bavarians,  attacked  by  dysentery,  from 
27,000  to  13,000;  the  Italian  division  Pinofrom  1 1,000  to  5,000  ; 
the  Italian  Guard,  the  Westphalians,  the  Poles,  the  Saxons,  and 
the  Croats  had  not  suffered  less.  The  "  ignoble  and  dangerous 
crowds  of  marauders  "  (Brandt)  encumbered  all  the  roads,  pil- 
laged the  convoys  and  the  magazines,  plundered  by  actual  force 
the  villages  and  towns,  not  even  respecting  isolated  officers. 
They  had  devoured  Poland  and  Lithuania  in  their  passage 
through  them.  At  Minsk,  whilst  the  Te Deum  was  being  chanted 
for  the  deliverance  of  Lithuania,  Cuirassiers  had  broken  into  the 
magazines.  In  this  offensive  march,  the  miseries  of  the  retreat 
might  be  clearly  foreseen.  Napoleon  did  what  he  could  to  fill 
the  voids  which  were  already  so  sensible.  He  ordered  Victor's 
army  to  advance  into  Lithuania,  Augereau  to  pass  the  Elbe  and 
the  Oder,  and  the  hundred  cohorts  of  the  national  guards  to 
make  themselves  ready  to  cross  the  Rhine.  In  the  north  Mac- 
donald  repulsed  Wittgenstein,  took  Polotsk  after  a  battle  (18th 
of  August),  occupied  Diinaburg,  threatened  to  invest  Riga,  and 
disquieted  St.  Petersburg  ;  and  in  the  south  Tormassof  obtained 
some  success  over  Reynier  and  Schwartzenberg. 

In  the  Russian  army,  the  discontent  grew  with  the  retreating 
movement ;  they  always  retired,  now  on  Dorogobouge,  now  on 
Viasna :  they  began  to  murmur  as  much  against  Bagration  as 
against  Barclay.     It  was  then  that  Alexander  united  the  two 


HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  t8 1 

armies  under  the  supreme  command  of  Koutouzof.  Koutouzof 
had  on  his  side  the  reminiscences  of  Amstetten,  Krems,  and 
Dirnstein  ;  it  was  not  to  him  that  Austerlitz  was  imputed.  He 
was  a  true  Russian  of  the  old  school,  indolent  and  sleepy  in  ap- 
pearance, but  very  judicious  and  very  patriotic.  No  one  under- 
stood better  than  he  did  the  Russian  soldier  and  the  national 
character.  Men  needed  hope  above  all  things.  His  appoint- 
ment excited  general  enthusiasm  :  the  rumor  immediately  spread 
in  the  army  that  "  Koutouzof  had  come  to  beat  the  French." 
Happy  sayings  raised  his  popularity  to  the  skies.  Passing  his 
regiments  in  review,  "  With  such  soldiers,"  he  exclaimed,  "  who 
would  think  of  beating  a  retreat  ? "  He  ordered,  however,  a  re 
trograde  movement ;  but  "  all  felt  that  in  retiring  they  were 
inarching  against  the  French."  They  "  recoiled,"  but  only  to 
reinforce  themselves,  to  await  the  troops  Miloradovitch  was  to 
bring  them,  the  Cossacks  that  Platof  was  to  recruit  on  the  Don, 
the  bearded  militia  which  rose  at  the  voice  of  the  Tzar,  the 
famous  droujina  of  Moscow,  promised  by  the  Governor  Rostop- 
chine. 

Koutouzof  halted  at  Borodino.  He  had  then  72,000  infantry 
18,000  regular  cavalry,  7000  Cossacks,  10,000  opoltchfaie  or 
militiamen,  and  640  guns  served  by  14,000  artillerymen  or 
pioneers;  in  all  121,000  men.  Napoleon  had  only  been  able  to 
concentrate  86,000  infantry,  28,000  cavalry,  and  587  guns,  served 
by  16,000  pioneers  or  artillerymen.  This  was  about  equal  to 
the  effective  force  of  the  Russians,  but  his  army,  now  tempered 
by  the  long  march  of  800  leagues,  was  still  the  most  admirable 
of  modern  times.  On  the  5th  of  September  the  French  took 
the  redoubt  of  Chevaradino  ;  the  7th  was  the  day  of  the  great 
battle  :  this  was  known  as  the  battle  of  Borodino  among  the 
Russians,  as  that  of  the  Moskowa  in  the  bulletins  of  Napoleon, 
though  the  Moskowa  flows  at  some  distance  from  the  field  of 
carnage. 

The  front  of  the  Russian  army  was  bounded  on  the  right  by 
the  village  of  Borodino  on  the  Kolotcha ;  on  the  centre  by  the 
Red  Mountain,  where  rose  what  the  French  called  the  Great 
Redoubt,  and  the  Russians  the  Raievski  battery,  on  the  spot 
where  now  stands  the  memorial  column ;  and  on  the  left  by 
three  little  redoubts  or  outworks  of  Bagration's,  on  the  site  of 
the  monastery  since  founded  by  Madame  Toutchkof.  Between 
the  Red  Mountain  and  Bagration's  outworks  ran  the  ravine  of 
Semenevskoe\  with  the  village  of  the  same  name.  During  the 
battle  Napoleon  remained  near  the  redoubt  of  Chevardino; 
Koutouzof  at  the  village  of  Gorki.  Barclay  de  Tolly  commanded 
on  the  right,  and  through  Miloradovitch  he  occupied  Borodino, 


1 8  2  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

and  through  Doktourof,  Gorki.  Bagration  commanded  the  left, 
and  by  Raievski  he  occupied  the  Red  Mountain  and  Semenev- 
skod,  by  Borosdine  the  three  redoubts.  Napoleon  had  placed 
Eugene,  with  the  army  of  Italy  and  the  Bavarians,  opposite  the 
great  redoubt ;  Ney,  with  Junot  and  the  Wurtembergers,  oppo- 
site the  three  small  ones  ;  Davoust  with  the  Poles  and  Saxons, 
and  Murat  with  his  numerous  cavalry,  were  to  turn  the  Russians 
by  their  left.  On  the  extreme  right  Poniatovski  was  to  clear 
the  woods  of  Oustitsa.  Jn  the  rear,  the  division  of  Friant  and 
the  Guard  formed  an  imposing  reserve. 

Profound  silence  reigned  in  the  Russian  camp  on  the  eve  of 
the  battle ;  religious  fervor  and  patriotic  fury  inflamed  all 
hearts  :  they  passed  the  night  confessing  and  communicating  ; 
they  put  on  white  shirts  as  if  for  a  wedding.  In  the  morning 
100,000  men  were  blessed  on  their  knees,  and  sprinkled  with 
holy  water  by  their  priests ;  the  wonder-working  Virgin  of 
Vladimir  was  carried  in  procession  round  the  front  of  the  troops 
in  the  midst  of  sobs  and  enthusiasm  ;  an  eagle  hovered  over 
the  head  of  Koutouzof,  and  a  loud  "  hurrah  "  saluted  this  happy 
omen.  The  battle  began  by  a  frightful  cannonade  of  1200  guns, 
which  was  heard  at  30  leagues  round.  Then  the  French,  with 
an  irresistible  charge,  took  Borodino  on  one  side,  and  the  re- 
doubts on  the  other  ;  Ney  and  Murat  crossed  the  ravine  of 
Semenevskoe,  and  cut  the  Russian  army  nearly  in  two.  At  ten 
o'clock  the  battle  seemed  won,  but  Napoleon  refused  to  carry 
out  his  first  success  by  employing  the  reserve,  and  the  Russian 
generals  had  time  to  bring  up  new  troops  in  line.  They  re- 
captured the  great  redoubt,  and  Platof,  the  Cossack  made  an 
incursion  on  the  rear  of  the  Italian  army  ;  an  obstinate  fight 
took  place  at  the  outworks.  At  last  Napoleon  made  his  reserve 
troops  advance  ;  again  Murat's  cavalry  swept  the  ravine  ;  Cau- 
laincourt's  cuirassiers  assaulted  the  great  redoubt  from  behind, 
and  flung  themselves  on  it  like  a  tempest,  while  Eugene  of  Italy 
scaled  the  ramparts.  Again  the  Russians  had  lost  their  out- 
works. Then  Koutouzof  gave  the  signal  to  retreat,  and  collect* 
ed  his  troops  on  Psarevo.  Napoleon  refused  to  hazard  his  last 
reserves  against  these  desperate  men,  and  to  "  have  his  Guard 
demolished."  He  contented  himself  with  crushing  them  with 
artillery  during  the  flight.  The  French  had  lost  30,000  men, 
the  Russians  40,000  ;  the  former  had  49  generals  and  37  colo- 
nels killed  and  wounded,  the  Russians  almost  as  many,  and 
they  numbered  Bagration,  Koutaizof,  and  the  two  Toutchkofs 
among  their  dead.  Napoleon  still  concentrated  100,000  men 
under  his  own  eye,  Koutouzof  only  50,000  ;  but  Napoleon's 
losses  were  irreparable   at  this  distance  :  the  Grand  Army  was 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  ^j 

condemned  to  gain  nothing  by  its  victories.  The  novelist  Tol» 
stoi  uses  this  expression,  "  The  beast  is  wounded  to  death." 
"  Napoleon,"  says  Brandt,  the  Pole,  "  had  succeeded,  but  at 
what  a  price  !  The  great  redoubt  and  its  surroundings  offered 
a  spectacle  which  surpassed  the  worst  horrors  that  could  be 
dreamed  of.  The  ditches,  the  fosses,  the  very  interior  of  the 
outwork  had  disappeared  beneath  an  artificial  hill  of  dead  and 
dying,  six  or  eight  men  deep,  heaped  one  upon  another." 

Koutouzof  retired  in  good  order,  announcing  to  Alexander 
that  they  had  made  a  steady  resistance,  but  were  retreating  to 
protect  Moscow.  He  called  a  council  of  war  at  Fily,  on  one  of 
the  hills  which  overhangs  Moscow  ;  and  the  sight  of  the  great 
and  holy  city  extended  at  their  feet,  condemned  perhaps  to 
perish,  caused  inexpressible  emotion  to  the  Russian  generals. 
The  only  question  was  this,  Was  it  necessary  to  sacrifice  the 
last  army  of  Russia  in  order  to  save  Moscow  ?  Barclay  de- 
clared that  "  when  it  beoame  a  matter  of  the  salvation  of  Russia 
and  of  Europe,  Moscow  was  only  a  city  like  any  other."  Others 
said,  like  the  artillery  officer  Grabbe,  "  It  would  be  glorious  to 
die  under  Moscow,  but  it  is  not  a  question  of  glory."  "  But," 
said  Prince  Eugene  of  Wurtemberg,  "  many  hold  that  honor 
forces  them  to  put  a  stop  to  all  retrograde  movements  :  as  the 
tomb  is  the  end  of  all  earthly  journeys  accomplished  by  man, 
Moscow  ought  to  be  the  aim,  the  tomb  of  the  Russian  war- 
rior ;  beyond  her  another  world  already  begins."  Bennigsen, 
Ermolof,  and  Ostermann  were  in  favor  of  a  last  battle.  Kou- 
touzof listened  to  all,  and  then  said,  "  Here  my  head,  be  it  good 
or  bad,  must  decide  for  itself,"  and  ordered  a  retreat  through 
the  town.  Yet  he  felt  that  Moscow  was  not  "  only  a  city  like 
any  other."  He  would  not  enter  it,  and  passed  the  faubourgs 
weeping.  Even  for  the  retreat  there  were  two  alternative  paths. 
Barclay  advised  that  of  Vladimir,  which  allowed  St.  Peters- 
burg to  be  covered.  Koutouzof  preferred  that  of  Riazan,  by 
which  he  could  place  himself  on  the  right  flank  of  Napoleon 
to  draw  up  reinforcements  from  the  south,  and  to  bar  the 
way  to  the  most  fertile  provinces  of  the  empire  to  the  French. 
The  event  proved  that  he  was  right. 

Alexander,  however,  had  only  raised  the  opoltchenit  in  six- 
teen governments :  those  of  Moscov;,  Tver,  laroslavl,  Vladimir, 
Riazan,  Toula,  Kalouga,  and  Smolensk  were  to  furnish  123,000 
men ;  St.  Petersburg  and  Novgorod  25,000.  Alexander  had 
said  to  Michaux,  "We  will  make  of  Russia  a  new  Spain."  The 
Metropolitan  of  Moscow  and  all  the  priests  called  men  to  arms 
against  the  "  impious  Frenchman,  the  bold  Goliath,"  who  was 
to  be  thrown  to  the  earth  by  the  sling  of  a  new  David. 


I84  MS  TOR  V  OF  Ri  'SS/A . 

Alexander  had  appointed  Count  Rostopchine  as  Governoi 
of  Moscow.  This  French  wit  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
nobles  and  the  people,  affected  the  picturesque  language  of  the 
peasants,  and  understood,  as  he  says,  "  how  to  throw  dust  in 
their  eyes."  The  patriot  Glinka  compared  him  to  Napoleon. 
His  correspondence  with  Semen  Voronzof,  his  proclamation  of 
1812,  his  Memoirs  written  in  1823,  his  pamphlet  of  the  same 
year  entitled  '  The  Truth  about  the  Burning  of  Moscow,'  may  be 
counted  amongst  the  most  curious  sources  of  history.  "  I  do 
everything"  he  writes  to  the  Emperor,  "to  gain  the  goodwill  of 
ez  ery  one.  My  two  visits  to  the  Mother  of  God  at  Iberia,  the  free 
access  of  all  towards  myself,  the  verification  of  the  weights  and 
measures,  fifty  blows  with  a  stick  applied  in  my  presence  to  a 
sub-officer  who,  charged  with  the  sale  of  salt,  had  caused  the 
mougiks  to  wait  too  long,  have  won  me  the  confidence  of  your 
devoted  and  faithful  subjects."  "  I  have  resolved,"  he  says, 
"  at  every  disagreeable  piece  of  news  to  raise  doubts  as  to  its 
truth  ;  by  this  means  I  shall  weaken  the  first  impression,  and 
before  there  is  time  to  verify  it  others  will  come  which  need  to 
be  examined."  He  organized  a  regular  system  of  spies  to 
watch  over  the  propagators  of  false  news,  the  Martinists.  the 
Freemasons,  and  the  Liberals.  He  was  jealous  of  Glinka,  who 
nevertheless  admired  him,  and  who  in  the  Russian  Messenger 
"  unchained  the  furies  of  the  patriotic  war."  When  Alexander 
came  to  Moscow  and  convoked  the  three  orders  at  the  Kremlin, 
Rostopchine  caused  kibitkas  to  be  prepared  to  carry  into  Siberia 
any  who  might  ask  the  Emperor  indiscreet  questions.  These 
precautions  were  useless.  The  nobles  gave  their  peasants,  the 
merchants  their  money  ;  the  reading  of  the  imperial  manifesto 
was  received  with  enthusiasm.  "  At  first,"  relates  Rostopchine, 
"  they  listened  with  the  greatest  attention,  then  they  gave  seme 
signs  of  anger  and  impatience  ;  when  they  came  to  the  phrase 
which  declared  that  the  enemy  came  with  '  flattery-  on  their  lips 
and  irons  in  their  hands.'  the  general  indignation  burst  forth. 
They  beat  their  heads,  they  tore  their  hair,  they  bit  their  hands, 
and  tears  of  rage  fell  down  their  faces,  which  recalled  those  of 
the  ancients.  I  saw  one  man  grind  his  teeth."  At  bottom,  the 
Government  mistrusted  the  people,  who,  being  serfs,  might  allow 
themselves  to  be  tempted  by  the  proclamations  of  liberty  put 
forth  by  the  invader.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  Rostopchine 
placed  300,000  roubles  at  the  disposal  of  Glinka,  the  popular 
writer.  There  was  no  need  oi  the  money,  and  Glinka  restored 
the  300,000  roubles.  When  Alexander  left  the  city,  he  gave  full 
powers  to  Rostopchine. 

Rostopchine   invented  good    news ;  one   day  he  posted  up 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  C/SS/A.  1 8  5 

''Great  Victory  of  Ostermann,"  another  day  "Great  Victory  of 
Wittgenstein."  Sensible  people  ended  by  never  believing  him. 
His  bulletins  had  always  firm  hold  on  the  people.  "  Fear 
nothing,"  he  said  :  "  a  storm  has  come  ;  we  will  dissipate  it;  the 
gain  will  be  ground,  and  become  meal.  Only  beware  of  drunk- 
ards and  fools  ;  they  have  large  ears,  and  whisper  folly  one  to 
the  other.  Some  believe  that  Napoleon  comes  for  good,  whilst 
he  only  thinks  of  flaying  us.  He  makes  the  soldiers  expect  the 
field-marshal's  staff,  beggars  mountains  of  gold,  and  while  they 
are  waiting:  he  takes  even'  one  bv  the  collar  and  sends  him  to 
his  death.  And  for  this  reason  I  beg  you,  if  any  of  our  country- 
men or  foreigners  begin  to  praise  him  and  to  promise  this  or  that 
in  his  name,  seize  him,  whoever  he  may  be,  and  take  him  before 
the  police.  As  to  the  culprit,  I  shall  know  how  to  make  him  hear 
reason,  were  he  a  giant."  "  I  will  answer  with  my  head  that 
the  scoundrel  does  not  enter  Moscow.  And  see  on  what  I  base 
my  prophecy.  ...  If  that  is  not  enough,  then  I  shall  say,  '  For- 
ward, droujina  of  Moscow  !  let  us  march  likewise.  And  we 
shall  be  100,000  soldiers.  Let  us  take  with  us  the  image  of  the 
Mother  of  God,  150  guns,  and  we  shall  finish  the  affair  together.'  " 
After  Borodino  he  again  puts  forth  this  proclamation,  "  Brothers, 
we  are  numerous,  and  readv  to  sacrifice  our  lives  for  the  salva- 
tion  of  the  country  and  to  prevent  that  wretch  from  entering 
Moscow  ;  but  you  must  help  me.  Moscow  is  our  mother  ;  she 
has  suckled  us,  nourished  us,  enriched  us.  In  the  name  of  the 
Mother  of  God,  I  invite  you  to  the  defence  of  the  temples  of  the 
Lord,  of  Moscow,  of  Russia  !  Arm  yourselves  in  any  way  you 
can,  on  foot  or  on  horseback  ;  take  only  enough  bread  for  three 
days,  go  with  the  cross,  preceded  by  the  banners  that  you  will 
take  from  the  churches,  and  assemble  at  once  on  the  three 
mountains.  I  shall  be  with  you,  and  together  we  will  extermi- 
nate the  invaders.  Glory  in  heaven  for  those  who  go  there  ! 
Eternal  peace  to  those  who  die  !  Punishment  in  the  last  judg- 
ment to  those  who  draw  back  ! " 

It  was  necessary,  however,  to  carry  to  Kazan  forty  French- 
men or  foreigners  settled  at  Moscow.  Domergue,  the  director 
of  the  French  theatre  at  Moscow,  describes  their  sad  journey. 
Rostopchine  made  a  certain  Leppich  or  Schmidt  work  mysteri- 
ously at  a  wonderful  balloon,  which  would  cover  with  fire  the 
whole  French  army.  He  removed  all  the  archives  and  the 
treasures  of  the  churches  and  palaces  to  Vladimir.  When  the 
Russian  army  left  Moscow,  he  also  quitted  it,  after  cruelly  slay- 
ing Verechtchaghine,  who  was  accused  of  having  spread  the 
proclamation  of  Napoleon.  He  caused  the  prisons  to  be  opened ; 
distributed  among  the  people  the  muskets  of  the  arsenal,  took 


j  86  HIS  TOR  V  OF  RUSSIA. 

away  the  pumps,  and  ordered  Voronenko  to  set  on  fire  the  stores 
of  brandy,  and  the  boats  loaded  with  alcohol.  The  burning  of 
Moscow  no  doubt  arose  from  this.  By  his  own  confession  it  was 
"  an  event  which  he  had  prepared,  but  which  he  was  far  from 
executing."  He  contented  himself  with  "  inflaming  the  spirits  of 
men."  Already  the  barriers  of  the  capital  were  crowded  with 
vehicles  of  all  sorts ;  every  one  emigrated  who  could  leave  the 
town. 

The  people  who  remained  at  Moscow  steadily  nursed  their 
illusions.  When  the  first  soldiers  of  the  Grand  Army  appeared 
they  thought  that  it  was  the  Swedes  or  English  who  had  come  to 
their  help.  The  pillage  of  the  deserted  houses  began,  and  the 
populace  rivalled  the  zeal  of  the  invaders.  Napoleon  arrived, 
and  tried  to  quell  the  disorder ;  he  appointed  Mortier  governor 
of  the  town.  "  Above  all,  no  pillage  ! "  he  said ;  "  you  will 
answer  for  it  with  your  head."  The  troops  defiled  through  the 
streets  of  Bielyi-gorod  and  Kitai'-gorod,  singing  the  Marseillaise 
(Sept.  14).  Napoleon  ascended  the  Red  Staircase,  and  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  ancient  palace  of  the  Tzars.  Almost  im- 
mediately the  fires  broke  out  in  many  places.  The  night  of  the 
i5th-i6th  September  was  especially  terrible.  The  Kremlin 
itself,  with  the  artillery  wagons  of  the  Guard,  was  in  danger. 
Napoleon  had  to  leave  it,  and  force  his  way  through  the  flames ; 
he  almost  perished  on  the  road,  and  finally  reached  the  Petrov- 
ski  park.  The  courts-martial  condemned  about  four  hundred 
incendiaries,  real  or  suspected,  to  death.  All  was  over  with  the 
French  conquest ;  only  a  fifth  of  the  houses  and  churches  re- 
mained standing.  From  that  time  it  was  impossible  to  prevent 
the  plunder  of  the  cellars,  and  of  the  buildings  which  were  intact. 
The  German  allies  were,  according  to  the  Muscovites,  incompar- 
ably more  greedy  than  the  true  Frenchmen.*  They  deserved 
the  name  of  "  The  merciless  army  "  {bezpardormoe  vo'iskd). 

During  the  thirty-five  days  that  the  troops  remained  at 
Moscow,  their  disorganization  was  brought  to  a  climax,  and 
probably  10,000  or  12,000  men  perished  from  hunger.  The 
troops  began  to  eat  the  horses.  Napoleon,  however,  got 
together  a  troupe  of  comedians  in  the  house  of  Posniakof,  held 
concerts  in  the  Kremlin,  and  promulgated  the  decree  of  Moscow 
about  the  Thdatre  Francais  of  Paris  ;  but  in  spite  of  all  this  he 
was  a  prey  to  disquietude.  The  plan  of  a  march  to  St.  Peters* 
burg  on  the  approach  of  winter  was  rejected  as  impracticable. 
His  attempts  to  open  negotiations  with  Alexander  were  unsuc- 
cessful.    He  thought  of  declaring  himself  King  of  Poland,  of 

•  See  the  new  accounts  in  M.  Rambaud's  book  called '  Francais  et  Russes, 
Moecou  et  Sevastopol  ' 


B/S TORY  OP  R USSIA.  x 8 7 

re-establishing  the  principality  of  Smolensk,  and  of  dismembering 
Western  Russia  ;  he  studied  papers  relative  to  the  attempt  of 
1730,  to  see  if  he  could  not  seduce  the  nobles  by  the  bait  of  a 
constitution,  and  dreamed  of  decreeing  the  liberty  of  the  serfs 
and  of  raising  the  Tatars  on  the  Volga.  He  was  powerless ; 
without  means  of  action  ;  without  news  ;  almost  blockaded  in 
Moscow.  To  the  south  the  way  was  barred  by  Koutouzof, 
who  had  reinforced  himself  in  his  camp  of  Taroutino ;  by 
the  battle  of  Vinkovo  (October  18)  against  Murat,  the  road  to 
Riazan  was  shut;  and  by  the  battle  of  Malo-Iaroslavets  (23rd- 
24th  Oct.)  that  to  Kalouga  was  to  be  blocked,  only  leaving  free 
the  road  to  Smolensk,  which  had  been  laid  waste.  Even  this 
was  no  longer  safe.  The  war  of  guerillas,  the  war  of  peasants, 
the  Cossack  war  had  begun.  Gerasimus  Kourine,  a  peasant  of 
the  village  of  Pavlovo,  assembled  5800  men  "  to  fight  for  the 
country  and  the  holy  temple  of  the  Mother  of  God  against  an 
enemy  who  threatened  to  burn  all  the  villages,  and  to  take  the 
skin  off  all  the  inhabitants." 

The  mougiks  fell  on  foraging  parties  and  marauders  ;  they 
killed  them  by  blows  with  pitchforks ;  they  hung  them,  they 
drowned  them.  Wilson  the  Englishman  relates  that  they  buried 
men  alive.  In  the  single  district  of  Borovsk,  3500  soldiers  were 
killed  or  taken.  The  guerilla  chiefs  Figner,  Sesslavine,  Davydof, 
Benkendorff,  and  Prince  Kourakine  captured  the  convoys  on  the 
road  to  Smolensk.  Dorokhof,  with  a  band  of  2500  men  and  a 
party  of  Cossacks,  took  Vereia  by  assault.  The  peasant  Vas- 
silissa  and  Mademoiselle  Nadejda  Dourova  gave  warlike 
examples  to  the  Russian  women.  Cossacks  already  appeared 
disguised  in  Moscow. 

On  the  13th  of  October,  in  the  first  snow,  Napoleon  had 
made  the  ambulances  and  the  first  convoys  leave  Moscow. 
From  the  18th  to  the  23rd,  90,000  combatants  quitted  Moscow. 
They  took  with  them  600  guns,  2000  artillery  wagons,  and  50,000 
non-combatants — invalids,  workmen,  women,  and  inhabitants  of 
the  towns  who  feared  the  first  excesses  of  the  Cossacks.  Mortier 
left  Moscow  the  last,  having  sprung  mines  under  the  Kremlin. 
The  palace  of  Elizabeth  was  blown  up  ;  the  gate  of  the  Saviour, 
that  of  the  Trinity,  and  the  tower  of  Ivan  the  Great  were  cracked 
by  the  explosions ;  there  were  many  gaps  in  the  walls  of  the 
Kremlin.  It  was  a  cruel,  useless  revenge,  which  might  call 
down  horrible  reprisals  on  the  wounded  who  were  left  behind. 

The  only  road  to  Smolensk  was  opened  by  the  battle  of 
Viasma  (3rd  November),  where  Ney  and  Eugene,  cut  off  from 
Davoust  by  Miloradovitch,  defeated  40,000  Russians.  At 
Smolensk  they  found  the  magazines  empty  (November  12).     It 


188  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

was  there  that  hunger  and  18  degrees  of  cold  began  to  decimate 
the  remains  of  the  Grand  Army.  What  it  suffered  is  eloquently 
described  in  the  memoirs  and  accounts  of  Segur,  Labaume, 
Brandt,  Fezensac,  Dennie'e,  Chambray,  Fain,  Rend  Bourgeois, 
Domergue,  Madame  Fusil  (actress  at  the  French  theatre  at 
Moscow),  Madame  de  Choiseul-Gouffier,  and  Wilson.  A  repe- 
tition here  would  be  superfluous. 

At  Krasnoe  Napoleon  was  obliged  to  send  the  Guard  to 
rescue  Davoust  ;  Ney,  who  commanded  the  rear-guard,  was 
forced  with  a  body  of  6000  fighting  men  and  6000  stragglers  to 
give  battle  to  60,000  Russians  (19th  November),  but  from 
Smolensk  to  Krasnoe'  26,000  stragglers  and  wounded,  208 
cannon,  and  5000  carriages  fell  into  the  hands  of  Koutouzof 

The  old  general,  who  had  collected  all  these  trophies  a^ost 
without  a  blow,  triumphed  in  his  success.  They  brought  him  a 
French  flag,  where  amidst  the  names  of  immort"'.  battles  might 
be  read  that  of  Austerlitz.  "  What  is  that  ?  "  he  asked  "  Aus- 
terlitz !  It  is  true  it  was  hot  work  at  Austerlitz.  But  I  wash 
my  hands  of  it  before  the  whole  army.  They  are  innocent  of 
Austerlitz."  This  was  at  the  camp  of  the  Semenovski,  and  one 
of  his  officers  exclaimed,  "  Hurrah  for  the  Saviour  of  Russia  I " 
"  No,"  said  Koutouzof  ;  "  listen,  my  friends  !  It  is  not  to  me 
that  the  honor  belongs,  but  to  the  Russian  soldier."  And, 
throwing  his  cap  into  the  air,  he  cried  with  all  his  strength. 
"  Hurrah  !  hurrah  for  the  brave  Russian  soldier !  "  Then,  made 
communicative  by  the  joy  of  success,  he  said  to  his  officers, 
"  Where  does  the  son  of  a  dog  lie  this  night  ?  I  know  already 
that  he  will  not  sleep  quietly  at  Liady  :  Sesslavine  has  given  me 
his  word  of  honor.  Listen,  gentlemen,  to  a  pretty  fable  that 
Krylof  the  good  story-teller  has  sent  me.  A  wolf  entered  into  a 
kennel  and  tormented  the  dogs.  As  to  his  entrance,  he  had 
managed  that  very  well ;  but  it  was  quite  another  affair  to  get 
out !  All  the  dogs  were  after  him,  and  he  was  driven  into  a 
corner  with  his  hairs  standing  on  end,  and  saying,  '  What  is  the 
matter,  my  friends  ?  What  is  your  grievance  against  me  ?  I 
simply  came  to  see  what  you  were  doing,  and  now  I  am  going 
away.'  The  huntsman  by  this  time  had  hastened  to  the  spot, 
and  replied,  '  No,  friend  Wolf,  you  will  not  impose  upon  us  !  It 
is  true  you  are  an  old  rascal  with  gray  hair,  but  I  am  also  gray, 
and  not  more  stupid  than  you.'  "  And,  taking  off  his  cap  and 
showing  his  gray  locks,  Koutouzof  continued,  "  You  shall  not  go 
as  you  have  come,  for  I  have  set  my  dogs  on  your  traces  " 
('  Memoirs  of  JirkieVitch '). 

The  situation  of  the  French  army  was  critical.     In  the  north 
St.   Cyr,  after  a  bloody  battle  at   Polotsk  (19th  October),  had 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  US  SI  A .  1 8  9 

evacuated  the  line  of  the  Dwina.  Macdonald  was  therefore 
left  without  support,  expecting  the  desertion  of  some  of  his 
Prussians.  In  the  south,  Schwartzenberg  had  retreated  on  War- 
saw, more  occupied  with  Poland  than  with  the  safety  of  Napoleon. 
Thus,  Wittgenstein  on  the  north,  and  Tchitchagof  on  the  south, 
could  hang  on  the  flanks  of  the  Grand  Army;  both  hoped  to 
come  up  with  it  at  the  passage  of  the  Berezina,  and  to  enclose 
it  between  themselves  and  Koutouzof.  Koutouzof  himself 
reckoned  on  this,  and  restrained  the  ardor  of  the  most  im- 
patient of  the  Cossacks,  and  of  Wilson  the  Englishman,  who 
said,  "  What  a  shame  to  let  all  these  ghosts  roam  from  their 
graves!  "  They  all  believed  that  a  breath  would  scatter  what 
had  been  the  Grand  Army,  but  Koutouzof  would  not  hazard 
what  he  nad  gained  in  a  battle  ;  he  left  it  to  time,  to  hunger, 
and  to  winter.     The  cold  was  to  reach  26  degrees. 

In  spite  of  Koutouzof,  in  spite  of  Wittgenstein,  in  spite  of 
Tchitchagof,  the  ice,  the  breaking  down  of  the  bridges,  the 
French  army  crossed  the  Berezina  near  Stoudianka  (26th-29th 
November).  The  world  knows  what  a  price  the  passage  cost, 
but  still  it  was  a  great  success,  a  victory  of  the  desperate. 
Surrounded  by  140,000  Russians,  these  40,000  men  with  the  Em- 
peror managed  to  cross.  A  third  among  them  were  Poles. 
They  continued  their  journey.  At  Smorgoni,  Napoleon  quitted 
the  army  to  hasten  to  Paris,  leaving  the  command  to  Murat. 
It  stopped  at  Wilna,  where  some  months  previously  splendid 
fetes  had  received  the  restorer  of  Poland,  the  liberator  of  Lith- 
uania. The  starving  soldiers  rushed  eagerly  into  the  houses. 
Suddenly  the  cannon  sounded  on  three  sides:  it  was  the  three 
Russian  armies  which  had  come  up.  Ney,  with  his  4000 
"braves,"  protected  the  flight  of  this  tumultuous  crowd.  After 
his  departure,  there  happened  in  Wilna  a  scene  more  frightful, 
perhaps,  than  the  passage  of  the  Berezina.  Wilna  was  filled 
with  sick  and  wounded  French;  nearly  every  house  had  its 
guests.  The  Jews,  who  were  very  numerous  in  this  town, 
through  fear  of  the  Russians  and  hatred  of  the  French  and 
Polish  conscriptions,  threw  these  unhappy  wretches  out  of  the 
windows.  The  Jewish  women  could  easily  kick  to  death  the 
men  who  had  taken  the  bridge  of  Friedland  or  the  great  re- 
doubt of  Borodino.  The  Cossacks,  first  to  enter  the  town,  fell 
furiously  upon  the  defenceless  camp-followers,  on  the  women 
and  the  sutlers.  Then  a  frightful  carnage  took  place.  Thirty 
thousand  corpses  were  burned  on  piles.  The  remains  of  the 
army,  always  protected  by  the  intrepid  Ney,  at  last  recrossed 
the  Niemen.  They  left  behind  them  330,000  French  or  allies, 
dead  or  prisoners. 


,90  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 


CAMPAIGNS  OF  GERMANY    AND   FRANCE  !   TREATIES  OF     PARIS    AND 

VIENNA. 

After  the  extinction  of  the  Grand  Army,  Koutouzof  and  the 
Chancellor  Roumantsof  were  agreed  not  to  tempt  fortune,  but 
simply  to  take  the  eastern  provinces  of  Prussia  and  Poland,  to 
make  the  Vistula  the  frontier  of  Russia,  and  to  conclude  a  peace 
with  Napoleon. 

"  But,"  says  M.  Bogdanovitch,  "  they  did  not  reflect  that 
Napoleon  could  easily  repair  his  losses,  thanks  to  the  strong 
concentration  of  France  in  a  confined  space,  to  the  rapidity 
with  which  French  conscripts  were  taught,  to  the  great  maga- 
zines, and  the  vast  financial  resources.  We,  on  the  contrary, 
had  to  assemble  our  recruits  over  immense  spaces,  and  our 
finances  were  in  great  disorder.  Consequences  proved  that 
even  with  the  help  of  Prussia,  then  exerting  all  her  strength,  we 
could  not  make  head  against  Napoleon  in  the  battles  of  Liitzen 
and  Bautzen,  What  then  would  have  happened  if  the  Prussians, 
irritated  at  our  pretensions,  had  allied  themselves  with  France  ? 
Obviously  Napoleon,  reinforced  by  Prussian  armies  and  the 
Polish  contingents,  would  have  reappeared  on  the  Dwina,  and, 
profiting  by  the  lesson  of  1812,  would  have  acted  with  more 
precaution  and  perhaps  with  more  success."  Alexander,  there- 
fore, resolved  to  find  in  the  nations  which  were  said  to  be 
oppressed  by  Napoleon  the  forces  necessary  to  vanquish  him, 
to  make  the  security  of  Russia  rest  on  the  "  liberation "  of 
the  whole  of  Europe ;  and  following  the  example  of  Napo- 
leon, who  had  provoked  a  general  movement  from  West  to 
East  against  Russia,  to  raise  the  nations  from  East  to  West 
against  France.  The  burning  of  his  palace  and  his  capital 
rendered  him  inaccessible  to  all  proposals  of  peace  ;  Stein  and 
the  other  German  refugees  did  not  allow  him  to  forget  his 
vengeance. 

Whilst  the  Russian  troops  invaded  Poland,  and  gave  battle 
to  the  remnants  of  the  Grand  Army  at  Elbing  and  Kalisch ; 
whilst  Czartoryski  entreated  the  Tzar  to  re-establish  Poland, 
under  the  sceptre  of  the  Grand  Duke  Michael,  Alexander 
opened  negotiations  with  Prussia.  Frederick  William  nego- 
tiated at  once  both  with  him  and  Napoleon.  He  disavowed 
York  of  Wartenburg,  whose  defection  at  Tauroggen  had  given 
the  signal  for  the  Germanic  movement,  and  who  raised  Eastern 
Prussia.  He  sent,  however,  Knesebeck,  disguised  as  a  mer- 
chant, to  the  nead-quarters  of  the  Tzar.  Alexander  in  his  turn 
sent  him  Stein  and  Anslett,  who  induced  him  to  sign  the  Treaty 


BlSTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


191 


of  Kalisch  (February  28,  1813),  by  which  the  two  princes  formed 
an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance,  "for  the  re-establishment 
of  the  Prussian  monarch  within  limits  which  may  assure  the 
tranquility  of  the  two  States."  Russia  furnished  150,000  men, 
Prussia  80,000 ;  they  were  only  to  treat  with  Napoleon  in  con- 
cert, and  Russia  was  to  try  to  obtain  a  subsidy  from  England, 
for  Prussia.  It  was  only  on  the  17th  of  March,  when  Wittgen- 
stein had  made  his  entry  into  Berlin,  that  the  King  of  Prussia 
declared  war  against  Napoleon,  and  put  forth  proclamations 
"  To  my  people  !  to  my  army  1  "  On  the  19th  of  March,  when 
Bliicher  entered  Saxony,  the  two  princes  concluded  the  conven- 
tion of  Breslau :  they  decided  to  summon  all  the  princes  and  all 
the  people  of  Germany  to  hasten  to  set  free  their  common 
country ;  the  princes  who  refused  within  a  specified  time  were 
to  be  deprived  of  their  territories.  The  Confederation  of  the 
Rhine  was  broken  :  a  central  council  of  government  was  created 
to  administer  the  countries  which  were  to  be  reconquered,  from 
Saxony  to  Holland,  to  recollect  the  revenues  assigned  from  that 
time  to  the  allied  Powers,  and  everywhere  to  organize  levies. 

Napoleon  had  displayed  his  ordinary  activity ;  he  had  set  on 
foot  450,000  men  ;  his  good  cities  of  Paris,  Lyons,  Rome,  Am- 
sterdam, and  Hamburg  had  made  him  patriotic  presents  of  thou- 
sands of  horses.  The  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  with  the 
exception  of  Saxony,  which  was  at  that  time  being  invaded,  pre- 
pared contingents.  It  was  with  180,000  men  and  350  guns 
that  Napoleon  reappeared  on  the  line  of  the  Elbe,  and  he  might 
well  count  on  crossing  it,  for  in  his  strong  places  on  the  Vistula 
and  the  Oder — Dantzig,  Thorn,  Plock,  Modlin,  Kustrin,  Glogau, 
Settin,  and  Stralsund — he  had  left  garrisons  amounting  to  nearly 
an  equal  number.  The  weak  point  of  this  new  army  was  the 
great  number  of  conscripts,  the  youth  of  the  soldiers,  and  the 
feebleness  of  the  cavalry.  The  veterans,  the  innumerable 
squadrons  of  Murat,  were  "buried  beneath  the  snows  of  Russia. 

On  the  2nd  of  May,  at  Lutzen,  and  on  the  20th  of  May,  at 
Bautzen,  Napoleon  gained  two  brilliant  victories,  but  could  not 
pursue  the  vanquished  for  want  of  cavalry.  He  entered  Dres- 
den and  re-established  his  ally  the  King  of  Saxony;  even  Silesia 
was  entered.  In  the  north  Davoust  had  recaptured  Hamburg 
and  Ltibeck,  which  an  insurrection  had  lost  to  the  French ;  the 
guerillas  who  had  shown  themselves  in  Westphalia  and  Han- 
over had  been  driven  back. 

The  King  of  Prussia  was  singularly  discouraged.  Never 
able  to  put  aside  the  recollections  of  1806,  he  remarked  after 
Ltltzen,  "  It  is  just  as  it  was  at  Auerstadt."  "  The  loss  of  these 
two  battles,"  says  M.  Bogdanovitch,  "  had  loosened  the  bonds 

Vol.  2  R  22 


193 


HISTORY  OF  R  WEST  A. 


of  the  alliance.  The  Prussian  generals  complained  that  theii 
country  was  ravaged  by  the  Russians  as  well  as  by  the  French. 
The  ideas  of  Barclay  de  Tolly  and  most  of  the  Russian  leaders 
did  not  agree  with  those  of  Bliicher  and  his  officers.  In  proportion 
as  the  Russians  increased  the  distance  from  their  country,  did 
they  find  it  difficult  to  get  ammunition,  and  even  food.  In  all 
the  space  included  between  the  Elbe  and  the  Vistula  there  were 
as  yet  no  magazines.  The  soldiers  were  badly  clothed  and 
badly  shod.  The  habitual  discipline  of  the  troops  relaxed.  The 
condition  of  the  Prussian  army  was  no  better."  Alexander  and 
even  the  King  of  Prussia  might  say  to  themselves  that  their 
stakes  were  heavy. 

It  was  then  that  the  Emperor  Francis  interfered  and  per- 
suaded his  son-in-law  to  sign  the  armistice  of  Pleswitz,  of  which 
Napoleon  said,  "  If  the  allies  do  not  really  wish  for  peace,  this 
truce  may  be  fatal  to  us."  During  this  time  the  Russian  army 
was  in  fact  re-organized  ;  Prussia  created  its  Landwehr  ;  the 
Prince  of  Sweden  became  a  member  of  the  Coalition  for 
the  promise  of  Norway;  Moreau,  another  Frenchman,  brought 
his  talents  to  the  help  of  the  allies ;  Dantzig,  Stettin,  Ktistrin, 
and  Glogau  were  besieged.  A  piece  of  exciting  news  reached 
Germany.  Spain  was  lost  to  Napoleon,  and  the  English  threat- 
ened the  Bidassoa.  As  to  Austria,  her  tendency  to  defection 
showed  itself  more  and  more  ;  after  Liitzen,  she  had  sent  at  the 
same  time  Stadion  to  Alexander,  and  Bubna  to  Napoleon.  She 
prolonged  negotiations.  Discontented  with  her  attitude,  Napo- 
leon had  tried  in  vain  to  approach  Alexander  ;  Caulaincourt  was 
not  received. 

Austria  at  last  transmitted  to  Napoleon  the  conditions  of  the 
allies:  1.  The  destruction  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw,  and 
the  partition  of  Poland  between  the  three  courts  of  the  North  , 
2.  The  re-establishment  of  Prussia,  as  far  as  possible,  within  the 
limits  of  1805  ;  3.  Restitution  to  Austria  of  her  Illyrian  provinces  ; 
4.  Restoration  of  the  Hanseatic  towns  ;  5.  Dissolution  of  the  Con- 
federation of  the  Rhine.  Napoleon  manifested  the  most  lively 
irritation,  but  neverethless  consented  that  a  congress  should 
assemble  at  Prague  to  discuss  the  conditions.  He  gave  his  in- 
structions  to  Narbonne  and  Caulaincourt.  To  punish  Austria's 
disloyalty,  he  determined  that  "  not  one  single  village"  should  be 
ceded  to  her ;  with  Russia  he  wished  for  a  glorious  peace,  but 
on  the  principle  of  uti possidetis.  Pretensions  so  opposite  could 
not  be  reconciled,  and  the  allies  increased  their  claims  stil? 
further,  by  demanding  that  the  Italian  provinces  should  be  restor 
ed  Austria,  and  Holland  abandoned.  When  Napoleon  finally  con- 
sented to  sacrifice    the  Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw  and  the  Illyriao 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  ,  gj 

provinces,  Austria  declared  that  it  was  too  late,  and  that  she  had 
entered  into  the  Coalition  (August  15). 

The  allies  had  now  three  armies  in  Germany  :  that  of  the 
North,  under  Bernadotte,  encamped  on  the  Havel,  with  130,000 
men  (Russians,  Swedes,  and  Prussians)  ;  that  of  Silesia,  under 
Blucher,  posted  on  the  Oder,  numbering  200,000  men  (Russians 
and  Prussians) ;  that  of  Bohemia,  under  Schwartzenberg,  con- 
sisted of  130,000  Austrians  and  Russians,  and  had  taken  up 
its  position  in  the  neighborhood  of  Prague.  Thus  of  the  three 
commanders-in-chief  not  one  was  Russian.  The  Grand  Duke 
Constantine,  Barclay,  Ostermann  and  Ermolof  served  Schwartzen- 
berg, Sacken  under  Blucher,  and  Wintzingerode  under  Ber- 
nadotte. The  old  Koutouzof  had  died  at  Buntzlau  during  the 
summer  campaign. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  before  whom  the 
pale  sovereigns  of  Austria  and  Prussia  were  eclipsed,  seemed  to 
direct  the  armies  and  the  diplomacy  of  the  Coalition.  It  was 
he  who  to  the  end  was  to  be  the  firmest  against  Nopoleon,  the 
most  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  his  downfall,  and  who,  after 
having  transported  the  war  from  Russia  to  Germany,  would 
transport  it  from  Germany  to  France. 

To  all  these  forces  Napoleon  opposed  the  30,000  men  of 
Davoust  who  occupied  Hamburg,  70,000  under  Oudinot  at  Wit- 
tenberg, and  the  180,000  which  he  had  concentrated  under  his 
hand  from  Dresden  to  Liegnitz,  with  Vandamme,  St.  Cyr,  Ney, 
Macdonald,  Mortier,  and  Murat.  Pie  fought  a  great  battle  with 
the  army  of  Bohemia  in  the  very  faubourgs  of  Dresden  (26th  and 
27th  of  August),  in  which  the  latter  was  forced  to  fall  back  in 
disorder  on  Bohemia,  with  the  loss  of  40,000  men  and  200  guns. 
The  allies  henceforth  resolved  to  avoid  all  encounters  with 
Napoleon,  and  only  to  fight  his  lieutenants. 

Napoleon  had  posted  Vandamme,  with  25,000  men,  in  the 
defiles  of  Peterswald,  to  bar  the  way  to  the  fugitives,  and  in  the 
events  which  followed  forgot  to  recall  him.  Vandamme  descend- 
ed as  far  as  Toplitz,  to  cut  off  the  allies,  but  he  came  up  with  the 
Russian  Guard,  which  made  a  desperate  resistance ;  even  the 
musicians,  the  drummers,  and  the  clerks  demanded  muskets. 
Ostermann  lost  one  arm.  Vandamme,  still  without  orders,  re- 
treated to  Kulm.  He  there  found  himself  attacked  and  sur- 
rounded by  forces  four  times  as  numerous  as  his  own,  and  was 
taken  with  half  of  his  corps  (30th  of  August).  Ktilm  was  almost 
entirely  a  Russian  victory,  due  above  all  to  Barclay,  Ostermann, 
and  Ermolof.  It  cost  dear,  for  the  Russians  lost  6000  men, 
2800  of  whom  belonged  to  the  Guard.  In  his  joy  Alexander 
covered  the  Preobrajenski,  the  Ismailovski,  the  sailors,  and  th* 


194 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


chasseurs  of  the  Guard  with  decorations  and  caused  St.  George's 
cross  to  be  attached  to  their  standards.  At  last  the  Coalition 
had  gained  a  success.  Nearly  at  the  same  time  Macdonald  was 
defeated  by  Bliicher  on  the  Katzbach  ;  Oudinot  at  Gross-Beeren, 
and  Ney  at  Dennewitz,  by  Bernadotte.  The  Cossacks  threw 
themselves  into  Westphalia,  and  Tchernichef  took  Cassel  and 
the  archives  of  King  Jerome. 

From  that  time  the  three  armies  pressed  closer  to  Napoleon. 
Bennigsen  had  just  brought  the  Russian  army  a  reinforcement 
of  60,000  men.  The  French  army,  reduced  to  160,000  men, 
found  itself  surrounded  by  300,000  allies  and  1200  guns;  these 
formed  a  half-circle  round  her,  and  only  left  free  the  way  to  the 
West.  Then  Napoleon,  whose  corps  (Tarme'e  were  stationed  at 
each  gate  of  Leipzig,  so  as  to  command  all  the  routes,  fought 
the  celebrated  "  battle  of  nations,"  which  lasted  four  davs. 
Alexander  showed  great  personal  bravery,  remaining  almost 
under  the  fire  of  the  French  batteries,  and  hastening  the  arrival 
of  reinforcements  on  the  most  threatened  places.  On  the  16th 
of  October  the  French  still  maintained  their  position,  on  the  17th 
they  watched,  while  the  allies  reached  their  maximum  of  con- 
centration. On  the  18th  the  battle  began  with  renewed  fury  : 
the  cannonade  was  more  terrible  than  that  of  Borodino,  says 
Miloradovitch  ;  it  was  on  this  day  that  the  Saxons  deserted. 
On  the  19th  the  French  army  began  to  retreat  towards  the  west, 
Victor  and  Augereau  at  the  head  ;  Ney,  Marmont,  the  Guard, 
and  Napoleon  in  the  centre,  while  Lauriston,  Macdonald,  and 
Poniatovski  formed  the  rear-guard.  It  was  this  rear-guard  that 
was  destroyed  by  the  premature  explosion  of  the  bridges  over 
the  Elster.  Macdonald  saved  himself  by  swimming  ;  Lauriston 
was  captured  with  30,000  men  and  150  guns  ;  Poniatovski  was 
drowned.  With  him  perished  the  hope  of  the  regeneration  of 
Poland  by  the  hand  of  Napoleon  :  intrepid,  disinterested,  and 
patriotic,  Poniatovski  did  not  care  for  the  staff  of  a  marshal  of 
France  :  he  wished  only  to  remain  "the  chief  of  the  Poles." 

The  Prussians,  who  detested  Saxony,  wished  to  take  the 
town  of  Leipzig  by  assault.  Alexander  had  to  interfere,  and 
managed  to  negotiate  a  capitulation  with  the  remains  of  the 
French  troops.  As  to  the  King  of  Saxony,  a  prisoner  in  his 
own  palace,  Alexander  received  him  coldly ;  he  refused  to  treat 
with  him  under  the  pretext  that  he  had  rejected  the  appeal  made 
by  the  Coalition  to  the  German  princes,  and  had  persisted  in 
his  devotion  to  Napoleon.  Perhaps  he  also  wished  to  punish 
the  last  Saxon  prince  who  had  reigned  over  Poland.  We  shall 
see,  besides,  that  the  schemes  of  Alexander  with  regard  to  this 
part  of  Europe  did  not  allow  him  to  hold  out  any  hopes  to  the 
JCing  of  Saxony. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


193 


The  battle  of  Leipzig  was  the  overthrow  of  the  French  rule 
in  Germany ;  there  only  remained,  as  evidence  of  what  they  had 
lost,  150,000  men,  garrisons  of  the  fortresses  of  the  Vistula,  the 
Oder,  and  the  Elbe.  Each  success  of  the  allies  had  been  marked 
by  the  desertion  of  one  of  the  peoples  that  had  furnished  its 
contingent  to  the  Grand  Army  of  18 12  :  after  Prussia,  Austria; 
at  Leipzig  the  Saxons :  the  French  had  not  been  able  to  regain 
the  Rhine  except  by  passing  over  the  bodies  of  the  Bavarians  at 
Hanau.  Baden,  Wurtemberg,  Hesse,  and  Darmstadt  declared 
their  defection  at  nearly  the  same  time  ;  the  sovereigns  were 
still  hesitating  whether  to  separate  themselves  from  Napoleon, 
when  their  people  and  regiments,  worked  upon  by  the  German 
patriots,  had  already  passed  into  the  allied  camp.  Jerome  Bona- 
parte had  again  quitted  Cassel ;  Denmark  found  itself  forced  to 
adhere  to  the  Coalition. 

Napoleon  had  retired  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  Would 
Alexander  cross  this  natural  frontier  of  revolutionary  France  ? 
"  Convinced,"  says  M.  Bogdanovitch,  "  by  the  experience  of 
many  years,  that  neither  losses  inflicted  on  Napoleon,  nor  trea- 
ties concluded  with  him,  could  check  his  insatiable  ambition, 
Alexander  would  not  stop  at  setting  free  the  involuntary  allies 
of  France,  and  resolved  to  pursue  the  war  till  he  had  over- 
thrown his  enemy."  The  allied  sovereigns  found  themselves 
reunited  at  Frankfort,  and  an  immediate  march  to  Paris  was 
discussed.  Alexander,  Stein,  Blucher,  Gneisenau,  and  all  the 
Prussians  were  on  the  side  of  decisive  action.  The  Emperor 
Francis  and  Metternich  only  desired  Napoleon  to  be  weakened, 
as  his  downfall  would  expose  Austria  to  another  danger,  the 
preponderance  of  Russia  on  the  Continent.  Bernadotte  insisted 
on  Napoleon's  dethronement,  with  the  ridiculous  design  of  ap- 
propriating the  crown  of  France,  traitor  as  he  was  to  her  cause. 
England  would  have  preferred  a  solid  and  immediate  peace  to 
a  war  which  would  exhaust  her  in  subsidies,  and  augment  her  al- 
ready enormous  debt.  These  divergencies,  these  hesitations, 
gave  Napoleon  time  to  strengthen  his  position.  After  Hanau, 
in  the  opinion  of  Ney,  "  the  allies  might  have  counted  their 
stages  to  Paris." 

Napoleon  had  re-cpened  the  negotiations.  The  relinquish- 
ment of  Italy  (when  Murat  on  his  side  negotiated  for  the  preser- 
vation of  his  kingdom  of  Naples),  of  Holland,  of  Germany,  and 
of  Spain,  and  the  confinement  of  France  between  her  natural 
boundaries  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps  ;  such  were  the  "  Condi- 
tions of  Frankfort."  Napoleon  sent  an  answer  to  Metternich, 
"  that  he  consented  to  the  opening  of  a  congress  at  Mannheim ; 
that  the  conclusion  of  a  peace  which  would  insure  the  indepen* 


1 96  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

dence  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  had  always  been  the  aim  o! 
his  policy."  This  reply  seems  evasive,  but  could  the  proposals 
of  the  allies  have  been  serious  ?  Encouraged  by  disloyal 
Frenchmen,  they  published  the  declaration  of  Frankfort,  by 
which  they  affirmed  "  that  they  did  not  make  war  with  France, 
but  against  the  preponderance  which  Napoleon  had  long  exer- 
cised beyond  the  limits  of  his  empire."  Deceitful  assurance, 
too  obvious  snare,  which  could  only  take  in  a  nation  weary  of 
war,  enervated  by  twenty-two  years  of  sterile  victories,  and  at 
the  end  of  its  resources  !  During  this  time  Alexander,  with  the 
deputies  of  the  Helvetian  Diet  summoned  at  Frankfort,  dis- 
cussed the  basis  of  a  new  Swiss  Confederation.  Holland  was 
already  raised  by  the  partisans  of  the  house  of  Orange,  and 
entered  by  the  Prussians.     The  campaign  of  France  began. 

Alexander  issued  at  Freiburg  a  proclamation  to  his  troops  : 
"  Your  heriosm  has  led  you  from  the  banks  of  the  Oka  to  those 
of  the  Rhine  ;  it  will  conduct  you  still  further  ;  we  will  cross  the 
Rhine,  we  will  penetrate  to  the  territory  of  the  people  against 
whom  we  have  sustained  such  a  fierce  and  bloody  struggle. 
Already  we  have  saved  and  glorified  our  country  -,  we  have 
given  back  to  Europe  her  liberty  and  her  independence.  Oh 
that  peace  and  tranquillity  may  reign  over  the  whole  earth ! 
that  each  State  may  prosper  under  its  own  government  and  its 
own  laws  !  By  invading  our  empire,  the  enemy  has  done  us 
much  harm,  and  has  therefore  been  subjected  to  a  terrible 
chastisement.  The  anger  of  God  has  overthrown  him.  Do  not 
let  us  imitate  him.  The  merciful  God  does  not  love  cruel  and 
inhuman  men.  Let  us  forget  the  evil  he  has  wrought ;  let  us 
carry  to  our  foes,  not  vengeance  and  hate,  but  friend,  hip,  and  a 
hand  extended  in  peace.  The  glory  of  Russia  is  to  hurl  her 
armed  foe  to  the  earth,  but  to  load  with  benefits  her  disarmed 
enemy  and  the  peaceful  populations."  He  refused  to  receive 
Caulaincourt  at  Freiburg,  declaring  that  he  would  only  treat  in 
France.  "  Let  us  spare  the  French  negotiator  the  trouble  of  the 
journey,"  he  said  to  Metternich.  "  It  does  not  seem  to  me  a 
matter  of  indifference  to  the  allied  sovereigns,  whether  the  peace 
with  France  is  signed  on  this  side  of  the  Rhine,  or  on  the  other, 
in  the  very  heart  of  France.  Such  an  historical  event  is  well 
worth  a  change  of  quarters." 

Without  counting  the  armies  of  Italy  and  the  Pyrenees, 
Napoleon  had  now  a  mere  handful  of  troops,  80,000  men,  spread 
from  Nimeguen  to  Bale,  to  resist  500,000  allies.  The  army  of 
the  North  (Wintzingerode)  invaded  Holland,  Belgium,  and  the 
Rhenish  provinces ;  the  army  of  Silesia  (Blucher)  crossed  the 
Rhine  between  Mannheim  and  Coblentz,  and  entered  Nancy; 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


197 


the  army  of  Bohemia  (Schwartzenberg)  passed  through  Switzer- 
land, and  advanced  on  Troyes,  where  the  Royalists  demanded 
the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons.  Napoleon  was  still  able  to 
bar  for  some  time  the  way  to  his  capital.  He  first  attacked  the 
army  of  Silesia ;  he  defeated  the  vanguard,  the  Russians  of 
Sacken,  at  St.  Didier,  and  Blucher  at  Brienne  ;  but  at  La 
Rothiere  he  encountered  the  formidable  masses  of  the  Silesian 
and  Bohemian  armies,  and  after  a  fierce  battle  (1st  February, 
i8i4)had  to  fall  back  on  Troyes.  After  this  victory  had  se- 
cured their  junction,  the  two  armies  separated  again,  the  one  to 
go  down  the  Marne,  the  other  the  Seine,  with  the  intention  of 
reuniting  at  Paris.  Napoleon  profited  by  this  mistake.  He 
threw  himself  on  the  left  flank  of  the  army  of  Silesia,  near 
Champeaubert,  where  he  dispersed  the  troops  of  Olsoufief  and 
Poltaratski,  inflicted  on  them  a  loss  of  2500  men,  and  took  the 
generals  prisoners.  At  Montmirail,  in  spite  of  the  heroism  of 
£igrote  and  Lapoukhine,  he  defeated  Sacken  ;  the  Russians 
alone  lost  2800  men  and  five  guns  (nth  February).  At  Chateau 
Thierry,  he  defeated  Sacken  and  York  reunited,  and  again  the 
Russians  lost  1500  men  and  five  guns.  At  Vauchamp  it  was 
the  turn  of  Blucher,  who  lost  2000  Russians,  4000  Prussians, 
and  fifteen  guns.  The  army  of  Silesia  was  in  terrible  disorder. 
"  The  peasants,  exasperated  by  the  disorder  inseparable  from  a 
retreat,  and  excited  by  exaggerated  rumors  of  French  successes, 
took  up  arms,  and  refused  supplies.  The  soldiers  suffered  both 
from  cold  and  hunger,  Champagne  affording  no  wood  for 
bivouac  fires.  When  the  weather  became  milder,  their  shoes 
wore  out,  and  the  men,  obliged  to  make  forced  marches  with 
bare  feet,  were  carried  by  hundreds  into  the  hospitals  of  the 
country  "  (Bogdanovitch). 

Whilst  the  army  of  Silesia  retreated  in  disorder  on  the  army 
of  the  North,  Napoleon,  with  50,000  soldiers  full  of  enthusiasm, 
turned  on  that  of  Bohemia,  crushed  the  Bavarians  and  Russians 
at  Mormans,  the  Wurtembergers  at  Montereau,  the  Prussians  at 
Me"ry  :  these  Prussians  made  part  of  the  army  of  Blucher,  who 
had  detached  a  corps  to  hang  on  the  rear  of  Napoleon.  This 
campaign  made  a  profound  impression  on  the  allies.  Castle- 
reagh  expressed,  in  Alexander's  presence,  the  opinion  that 
peace  should  be  made  before  they  were  driven  across  the  Rhine. 
The  military  chiefs  began  to  feel  uneasy.  Sesslavine  sent  news 
from  Joigny  that  Napoleon  had  180,000  men  at  Troyes.  A 
general  insurrection  of  the  eastern  provinces  was  expected  in 
the  rear  of  the  allies. 

It  was  the  firmness  of  Alexander  which  maintained  the  Coal* 
ition,  it  was   the  military  energy  of  Blucher  which  saved  it. 


iq8  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Soon  after  his  disasters  he  received  reinforcements  from  the 
army  of  the  North,  and  took  the  offensive  against  the  marshals; 
then,  hearing  of  the  arrival  of  Napoleon  at  La  Ferte'  Gaucher, 
he  retreated  in  great  haste,  finding  an  unexpected  refuge  at 
Soissons,  which  had  just  been  taken  by  the  army  of  the  North. 
At  Craonne  (March  7)  and  at  Laon  (10th  to  12th  March),  with 
100,000  men  against  30,000,  and  with  strong  positions,  he  man- 
aged to  repulse  all  the  attacks  of  Napoleon.  At  Craonne,  how- 
ever, the  Russian  loss  amounted  to  5000  men,  the  third  of  their 
effective  force.  The  battle  of  Laon  cost  them  4000  men.  Mean- 
while, De  Saint  Priest,  a  general  in  Alexander's  service,  had 
taken  Rheims  by  assault,  but  was  dislodged  by  Napoleon 
after  a  fierce  struggle,  where  the  e'migr/  commander  was  badly 
wounded,  and  4000  of  his  men  were  killed  (13th  March). 

The  Congress  of  Chatillon-sur-Seine  was  opened  on  the  28th 
of  February.  Russia  was  represented  by  Razoumovski  and 
Nesselrode,  Napoleon  by  Caulaincourt,  Austria  by  Stadion  and 
Metternich.  The  conditions  proposed  to  Napoleon  were  the 
reduction  of  France  to  its  frontiers  of  1792,  and  the  right  of  the 
allies  to  dispose,  without  reference  to  him,  of  the  reconquered 
countries.  Germany  was  to  be  a  confederation  of  independent 
States,  Italy  to  be  divided  into  free  States,  Spain  to  be  restored 
to  Ferdinand,  and  Holland  to  the  house  of  Orange.  "  Leave 
France  smaller  than  I  found  her?  Never!"  said  Napoleon. 
Alexander  and  the  Prussians  would  not  hear  of  a  peace  which 
left  Napoleon  on  the  throne.  Still,  however,  they  negotiated. 
Austria  and  England  were  both  agreed  not  to  push  him  to  ex- 
tremities, and  many  times  proposed  to  treat.  After  Napoleon's 
great  success  against  Blucher,  Castlereagh  declared  for  peace 
"  It  would  not  be  a  peace,"  cried  the  Emperor  of  Russia  ;  "  it 
would  be  a  truce  which  would  not  allow  us  to  disarm  one  mo- 
ment. I  cannot  come  400  leagues  every  day  to  your  assistance. 
No  peace,  as  long  as  Napoleon  is  on  the  throne."  Napoleon, 
in  his  turn,  intoxicated  by  his  success,  enjoined  Caulaincourt 
only  to  treat  on  the  bases  of  Frankfort — natural  frontiers.  After 
Montereau  he  forbade  him  to  treat  at  all  without  authority.  It 
was  then  that  he  addressed  a  letter  to  his  father-in-law,  the 
Emperor  of  Austria,  trying  to  make  him  ashamed  of  his  alliance 
with  the  "  Tatars  of  the  desert,  who  scarcely  deserve  the  name 
of  men,"  and  tempting  him  by  the  offer  of  a  separate  and  ad- 
vantageous peace.  He  afterwards  again  permitted  Caulaincourt 
to  treat,  but  only  on  the  bases  of  Frankfort.  Caulaincourt  like- 
wise demanded  that  Eugene  should  be  maintained  in  Italy, 
Elisa  Borghese  at  Lucca,  the  sons  of  Louis  Napoleon  at  Berg, 
and  the  King  of  Saxony  at  Warsaw.     These  conditions  proved 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  199 

unacceptable  ;  and,  as  fortune  returned  to  the  allies,  the  con 
gress  was  dissolved    (19th   of  March).     The   Bourbon  princes 
were  already  in  France;  Louis  XVIII.  was  on  the  point  of  be- 
ing proclaimed. 

Alexander,  tired  of  seeing  the  armies  of  Bohemia  and  Silesia 
fly  in  turn  before  thirty  or  forty  thousand  French,  caused  the 
allies  to  adopt  the  fatal  plan  of  a  march  on  Paris,  which  was  ex- 
ecuted in  eight  days.  Bliicher  and  Schwartzenberg  united,  with 
200,000  men,  were  to  bear  down  all  opposition  on  their  passage. 
The  first  act  in  the  drama  was  the  battle  of  Arcis-sur-Aube, 
where  the  Russians  took  six  guns  from  Napoleon.  The  latter 
conceived  a  bold  scheme,  which  perhaps  might  have  saved  him 
if  Paris  could  have  resisted,  but  which  was  his  ruin.  He  threw 
himself  on  the  rear  of  the  allied  army,  abandoning  to  them  the 
route  to  Paris,  but  reckoning  on  raising  Eastern  France,  and 
cutting  off  their  retreat  to  the  Rhine.  The  allies,  uneasy  for 
one  moment,  were  reassured  by  an  intercepted  letter  of  Na- 
poleon's, and  by  the  letters  of  the  Parisian  royalists,  which  re- 
vealed to  them  the  weakness  of  the  capital.  "  Dare  all  ! " 
writes  Talleyrand  to  them.  They,  in  their  turn,  deceived  Na- 
poleon, by  causing  him  to  be  followed  by  a  troop  of  cavalry, 
continued  their  march,  defeated  Marmont  and  Mortier,  crushed 
the  National  Guards  of  Pacthod  (battle  of  La  Fere-Cham- 
penoise),  and  arrived  in  sight  of  Paris. 

Barclay  de  Tolly,  forming  the  centre,  first  attacked  the 
plateau  of  Romainville,  defended  by  Marmont  ;  on  his  left,  the 
Prince  of  Wurtemberg  threatened  Vincennes  ;  and  on  his  right, 
Bliicher  deployed  before  Montmartre,  which  was  defended  by 
Mortier.  The  heights  of  Chaumont  and  those  of  Montmartre 
were  taken  ;  Marmont  and  Mortier  with  Money  were  thrown 
back  on  the  ramparts.  Marmont  obtained  an  armistice  from 
Colonel  Orlof,  to  treat  for  the  capitulation  of  Paris.  King 
Joseph,  the  Empress  Marie- Louise,  and  all  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment had  already  fled  to  the  Loire.  Paris  was  recommended 
"  to  the  generosity  of  the  allied  monarchs  "  ;  the  army  could 
retire  on  the  road  to  Orleans.  Such  was  the  battle  of  Paris  ;  it 
had  cost,  according  to  M.  Bogdanovitch,  8400  men  to  the  allies, 
and  4000  to  the  French  (30th  March). 

In  the  morning  of  the  31st,  Alexander  received  the  deputies 
of  Paris.  He  promised  that  the  allied  armies  should  behave 
with  the  utmost  propriety  in  Paris,  that  the  security  of  the  capital 
should  be  confided  to  the  National  Guards,  and  that  the  inhabit- 
ants should  be  asked  for  provisions  only.  He  made  his  entry 
between  the  King  of  Prussia  and  Schwartzenberg  (the  Emperor 
of  Austria  being  absent) ;  but  the  Parisians  had  only  eyes  for 


2  oo  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

him,  the  only  question  being,  "  Which  is  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander ?  "  The  allied  troops  maintained  a  strict  discipline,  and 
were  not  quartered  on  the  inhabitants.  Alexander  had  not 
come  as  a  friend  of  the  Bourbons — the  fiercest  enemy  of  Napo- 
leon was  least  bitter  against  the  French ;  he  intended  leaving 
them  the  choice  of  their  government.  He  had  not  favored  any 
of  the  intrigues  of  the  /migr/s,  and  had  scornfully  remarked  to 
Jomini,  "  What  are  the  Bourbons  to  me  ?  "  He  reproved  by  a 
witty  speech  the  baseness  of  a  Royalist  :  "  We  have  waited  for 
your  Majesty  a  long  while."  "  I  should  have  come  earlier  if  I 
had  not  been  prevented  by  the  bravery  of  your  soldiers,"  said 
Alexander.  He  sent  a  detachment  of  the  Semenovski  to  pro- 
tect the  column  of  the  Grand  Army  against  the  attempts  of  the 
/migrJ  Maubreuil.  He  repeated  in  the  senate  that  he  did  not 
make  war  on  France,  that  he  was  the  friend  of  the  French,  and 
that  he  would  protect  the  freedom  of  discussion,  which  tended 
to  the  establishment  of  liberal  and  lasting  institutions,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  progress  of  the  century.  He  yielded  when 
Talleyrand  assured  him  that  "  the  republic  was  an  impossibility, 
the  regency  and  Bernadotte  an  intrigue,  the  Bourbons  alone  a 
principle."  On  the  2nd  of  April  the  senate  proclaimed  the 
dethronement  of  Napoleon;  on  the  nth  he  abdicated  at  Fon- 
tainebleau.  Alexander  had  promised  Caulaincourt  to  defend  the 
interests  of  his  ally  at  Tilsit ;  he  chiefly  contributed  to  secure 
him  the  sovereignty  of  the  Isle  of  Elba.  Count  Schouvalof  was 
ordered  to  accompany  the  fallen  Emperor  to  this  place  of  exile. 
"  I  confide  to  you,"  said  Alexander,  "  a  great  mission  ;  you  will 
answer  to  me  with  your  head  for  a  single  hair  which  falls  from 
that  of  Napoleon."  He  confessed  to  Caulaincourt  that  the  im- 
becile conduct  of  the  Royalists  did  not  seem  t-o  him  less  dan- 
gerous for  the  peace  of  Europe  than  the  unreasonable  wars  of 
the  Empire. 

Everyone  knows  what  the  French  lost  by  the  first  Treaty  of 
Paris.  On  the  3rd  of  May,  Louis  XVIII.  made  his  entry  into  the 
Louvre.  He  affected,  even  with  Alexander,  the  lofty  ceremonial 
of  the  ancient  court ;  only  gave  him  a  chair,  while  he  seated 
himself  on  a  throne  ;  preceded  his  guests,  the  King  of  Prussia 
and  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  to  the  dining-hall,  and,  seated  in 
the  place  of  honor,  caused  himself  to  be  helped  before  them. 
Alexander  paid  no  attention  to  these  points.  Like  his  ancestor, 
Peter  the  Great,  he  inspected  with  interest  the  monuments 
and  great  institutions  of  the  capital.  It  was  at  Vienna  that  the 
destinies  of  Europe  were  to  be  regulated. 

At  the  Congress  of  Vienna  Alexander  was  represented  by 
Razoumovski,  Nesselrode,  Capo  d'Istria,  and  Stackelberg  ;  he 


HIS  TORY  OF  R  USSIA.  2  o  1 

had  confided  the  discussion  of  Polish  affairs  to  Czartoryski  and 
Anslett.  On  one  point  he  and  his  ally,  the  King  of  Prussia, 
were  agreed  ;  the  latter  only  asked  to  get  rid  of  his  Polish  prov- 
inces, and  Alexander  desired  to  unite  the  whole  of  Poland  under 
his  own  sceptre,  and  to  fulfil  the  promise  he  had  made  to  Czar- 
toryski and  to  the  gallant  remnant  of  the  legions  of  the  Vistula. 
In  exchange,  Prussia  demanded  Saxony,  whose  king  was  to 
receive  an  indemnity  elsewhere.  We  cannot  see  what  interest 
the  Restoration  could  have  secured  by  sacrificing  Poland  to  the 
King  of  Saxony,  and  by  opposing  a  combination  which,  by  estab- 
lishing this  prince  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  would  have 
given  France  a  neighbor  infinitely  less  dangerous  than  Prussia. 
Talleyrand,  however,  only  used  the  influence  that  he  had  ac- 
quired in  the  congress  to  combat  the  views  of  Russia  and  Prussia, 
and  to  support  the  resistance  of  England  and  Austria.  On  the 
2 1  st  of  October  Alexander  took  a  decisive  step:  he  ordered 
Prince  Repnine,  Governor  of  Saxony,  to  hand  over  that  country 
to  the  Prussian  government,  and  to  announce  its  incorporation 
with  the  territories  of  Frederick  William  III.  By  his  orders  the 
Tzarevitch  Constantine  entered  Poland,  assembled  an  army  of 
79,000  men,  and  summoned  Poland  to  the  defence  of  the  national 
integrity.  Then  Talleyrand,  with  the  consent  of  Castlereagh, 
concocted  a  scheme  of  alliance  between  France,  Austria,  and 
England.  This  convention  was  signed  January  3,  181 5,  but 
remained  secret.  Discord  reigned  in  the  Congress  of  Vienna  ; 
Europe  was  on  the  eve  of  a  general  war.  In  one  way  or  another 
France  would  regain  her  place  in  Europe  ;  but  was  it  on  the 
side  of  England  and  Austria  that  her  interests  were  to  be  found, 
Razoumovski  having  formally  proposed  to  establish  the  King  of 
Saxony  in  her  Rhenish  provinces? 

At  last  the  storm  rolled  away  :  Alexander  declared  that  he 
would  content  himself  with  only  a  part  of  Poland,  and  Prussia 
that  she  would  be  satisfied  with  only  a  third  of  Saxony,  with 
700,000  inhabitants.  The  other  decisions  of  the  Congress  of 
Vienna — the  organization  of  the  Germanic  Confederation,  of 
Italy,  and  the  kingdoms  of  the  Low  Countries — belong  to  general 
history.  Nevertheless,  the  formation  of  Germany  into  a  con- 
federation in  which  the  clients  of  Russia,  the  allies  of  the  im- 
perial house,  enjoyed  an  independent  existence,  and  a  consider- 
able influence  on  the  diet,  was  far  more  advantageous  to  Russian 
power  and  security  than  the  state  of  things  resulting  from  the 
war  of  1870.  Poland  was  again  divided  between  Russia,  Prus- 
sia, and  Austria  :  this  was  the  fourth  partition.  The  treaties 
of  Vienna,  however,  provided  that  "  the  Poles,  the  subjects  of 
Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia    respectively,  should  be  given  a 


joa  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

representation  and  national  institutions ;  whose  political  existenct 
was  to  be  regulated  in  the  way  that  the  government  to  which 
each  belonged  should  judge  the  most  suitable."  Cracow  was 
pronounced  free  and  independent.  In  all  these  treaties  Russia 
only  gained  3,000,000  of  souls  (kingdom  of  Poland),  whilst 
Prussia  obtained  5,392,000  (Western  Poland,  Saxony,  Swedish 
Pomerania,  Westphalia,  and  the  Rhenish  provinces),  and  Austria 
10,000,000  (Gallicia,  Germany,  and  Italy).  The  Power  which 
had  struck  hardest  for  the  "  freedom  of  Europe  "  was  the  most 
poorly  recompensed. 

The  event  which  had  suddenly  smoothed  the  difficulties  of 
the  Saxo-Polish  conflict,  and  hastened  the  signing  of  the  treaties, 
was  the  news  of  the  return  of  Napoleon  to  Paris.  The  bad  gov- 
ernment of  the  Bourbons  had  realized  the  unfavorable  predic- 
tions of  Alexander.  The  sovereigns  and  plenipotentiaries  at 
Vienna  did  not  hesitate  for  a  moment ;  Alexander  was  resolved 
to  pursue  the  common  enemy  to  his  fall,  "  down  to  his  last  man 
and  his  last  rouble."  Bonaparte's  couriers,  the  bearers  of  pa* 
cific  assurances,  were  arrested  on  the  French  frontier,  and  were 
prevented  from  reaching  the  sovereigns.  In  vain  did  Napoleon 
try  to  sow  mistrust  between  the  allies,  and  to  win  over  Alexander 
by  sending  him  a  copy  of  the  convention  signed  between  Talley- 
rand, England,  and  Austria  on  the  subject  of  the  Saxo-Polish 
affair.  "  The  only  result  of  this  movement  was  to  irritate  Alex- 
ander a  little  more  against  the  Bourbons  and  Talleyrand.  Na- 
poleon did  not  profit  by  it,  and  France  suffered."*  Out  of  the 
800,000  men  that  the  Coalition  had  prepared  to  march  against 
France,  the  Russian  contingent  amounted  to  167,000  :  Barclay 
de  Tolly,  field-marshal  since  the  battle  of  Paris,  was  commander- 
in-chief  ;  under  him  were  Doktourof,  Raievski,  Sacken,  Lange- 
ron,  Sabane'ef,  Ermolof,  Wintzingerode,  and  Pahlen.  In  spite 
of  the  news  of  Waterloo  and  the  abdication  of  Napoleon,  the 
Russians  still  invaded  France.  When  Alexander  reached  Paris, 
he  found  Blucher  already  established  there,  treating  it  as  a  con- 
quered city,  exacting  a  tribute  of  a  hundred  millions,  and  pre- 
paring to  blow  up  the  bridge  of  Jena.  Alexander  was  hailed  as 
a  deliverer  by  the  inhabitants,  who  were  terrified  by  the  Prussian 
violence.  He  protested  against  the  outrageous  demands  of  the 
Germans,  and  found  support  in  the  wise  policy  of  Wellington. 
Both  felt  that  to  restore  the  Bourbons  to  a  greatly  weakened 
France  would  be  to  render  this  unlucky  dynasty  still  more  pow- 
erless. They  could  not  this  time  prevent  the  pillage  of  the  mu- 
seums, but  the  exactions  of  Russia  and  England  were  relatively 

•  Albert  Sorel, '  La  Traitrf  de  Pari*.' 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


203 


the  most  moderate.     There  was  a  reason  for  this  :    these  two 
sovereigns  understood  that  in  the  regulation  of  European  affairs, 
and  especially  of  the  affairs  of  the   East,  France  would  be  an 
ally  in  the  future,  an  obstacle  to  the  exaggerated  pretensions  of 
either  side,  at  once  "  a  menace  and  a  protection  ;  "  she  was  es- 
sential to  the  equilibrium  of  Europe.     On  the  other  hand,  Alex- 
ander did  not  care  to  obtain  for  Germany  the  "  territorial  guar- 
antees "  which  she  demanded.     "  He  wished,"  says  Sybel,  "  to 
allow  some  danger  to  exist  on  this  side,  so  that  Germany,  having 
need  of  Russia,  might  thus  remain  dependent."     "  A  Russian 
diplomat,"  says  Pertz,  "  avowed  ingenously   that  it  was  not  the 
policy   of    Russia   to   give    Germany   secure   frontiers   against 
France."    Capo  d'Istria  said  openly  to  Stein  that  it  was  Russia's 
interest  to  strengthen  France,  so  that  the  other  Powers  should 
not  employ  all  their  forces  against  Russia.     If  Stein  used  all  his 
influence  with  Alexander  to  cause  the   claims  of  the  Russian 
patriots  to  prevail,  other  influences  were  at  work  to  oppose  him. 
First  there  was  the  Due  de  Richelieu,  who  had  been  the  gov- 
ernor of  New  Russia,  the  founder  of  Odessa,  and  whom  Alex- 
ander desired  to  see   replace   the  wily  Talleyrand  with  Louis 
XVIII.     Then  came   Capo   d'Istria,   Pozzo  di  Borgo,  and  his 
Greek  advisers,  who,  seeing  the  Eastern  question  appearing  on 
the  horizon,  wished  to  secure  for  the  Hellenic  interest  an  alli- 
ance with  Russia  against  the  narrow  policy  of  Austria  and  Eng- 
land.    Last  came  the  mystic  Madame  de  Krlidener,  who  placed 
before  Alexander  the  ideas  of  absolute  justice,  of  greatness  of 
soul,  of  forgiveness  for  offences,  of  universal  brotherhood,  and 
who  in  her  drawing-room,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  in  Paris,  sur- 
rounded the  Emperor  with  every  one   France  could  boast  who 
was  brilliant  and  seductive — Chateaubriand,  Benjamin  Constant, 
Madame  Recamier,  and  the  Duchesses  de  Duras  and  d'Escar. 

It  is  an  incontestable  fact,  that  of  all  the  allies  Russia 
showed  herself  the  least  grasping.  Here  is  the  table  of  propo- 
sitions made  officially  by  each  member  of  the  Coalition :  Russia 
— temporary  occupation  of  France,  war  indemnity ;  England — 
the  same  conditions,  and  the  return  of  the  frontiers  to  those  of 
1790  ;  Austria — the  same, //#■$■  the  dismantling  of  the  fortresses 
of  Flanders,  Lorraine,  and  Alsace  ;  Prussia — occupation,  indem- 
nity, return  to  the  frontier  of  1790,  cession  of  the  fortresses  of 
Flanders,  Lorraine,  and  Alsace.  The  secondary  States  of  Ger- 
many and  the  Low  Countries  demanded  the  cession  of  Flanders, 
Lorraine,  Alsace,  and  Savoy.  "  Such,"  says  M.  Sorel,  "  were 
the  official  propositions  ;  the  oral  demands  were  quite  another 
thing."  "  Look  here,  my  dear  Duke,"  said  Alexander  to  Rich- 
elieu in  1818,  "  this  is  France  as  my  allies  wished  to  make  her  j 


i04 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


they  only  wanted  my  signature,  and  that  I  promise  you  they  shali 
want  always."  The  map  that  he  showed  the  Duke  presented  a 
line  of  frontiers  which  would  deprive  France  of  Flanders,  Metz, 
Alsace,  and  the  east  of  Franche-Comte.  We  do  not  mention 
Carlovitz  (who  proposed  to  Stein  that  France  should  be  divided 
into  Langue  d'Oc  and  Langue  d'Oil,  after  being  robbed  of  her 
Flemish-  and  German-speaking  provinces),  nor  the  demoniacs 
who  clamored  for  Burgundy  and  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Aries. 

Richelieu  had  just  succeeded  Talleyrand  as  Minister  of  For- 
eign Affairs.  He  found  himself  in  the  presence  of  a  collective 
ultimatum  of  the  Powers,  demanding  the  cession  of  Savoy,  Conde, 
Philippeville,  Marienburg,  Givet,  Charlemont,  Landau,  Fort- 
Joux,  Fort-1'Ecluse,  the  demolition  of  Huningue,  the  payment  of 
eight  hundred  million  francs,  and  the  occupation  of  the  north 
and  east  for  seven  years.  He  discussed  this  ultimatum  point 
by  point.  "  The  Russians,"  writes  Gagern,  "  without  openly 
opposing  them,  labor  secretly  for  the  modification  of  the  arti- 
cles." Richelieu  ended  by  saving  Condd,  Givet,  Charlemont, 
the  forts  of  Joux  and  l'Ecluse,  and  obtained  the  reduction  of  the 
indemnity  to  seven  hundred  millions,  of  the  occupation  to  five 
years,  with  the  addition  of  this  clause,  that  "  at  the  end  of  three 
years  the  sovereigns  reserved  to  themselves  to  cut  short  the 
term  of  occupation,  if  the  state  of  France  permitted  it "  (Novem- 
ber 20,  1815).  Alexander  left  Paris.  In  the  army  of  occupa- 
tion Champagne  and  Lorraine  were  entrusted  to  Russia  ;  Voron- 
zof  commanded  27,000  men  and  84  guns ;  Alopeus  had  charge 
of  the  political  affairs,  and  both  lived  at  Nancy.  Nicholas 
Tourguenief,  a  member  of  the  official  staff,  has  given  us  some 
curious  details  about  the  Russians  in  Lorraine. 


KINGDOM    OF   POLAND  :    CONGRESSES    AT   AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, 
CARLSBAD,    LAYBACH,    AND   VERONA. 

With  regard  to  Poland,  Alexander  accomplished  more  loy- 
ally and  more  completely  than  the  two  other  co-partitioners,  the 
somewhat  vague  obligations  imposed  on  them  by  the  Treaty  of 
Vienna.  After  the  farewells  of  Fontainebleau,  Dombrovski,  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  legions  of  the  Vistula,  placed  his  troops 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  from  whom  the  Poles 
hoped  for  the  restoration  of  their  country.  The  Tzar  assigned 
Posen  as  their  place  of  assembly,  and  gave  them  his  brother 
Constantine  as  head.  On  the  nth  of  December,  1814,  the 
TzareVitch  addressed  them  a  proclamation  in  French:  "Gather 
around  your  banners ;  arm  yourselves  to  defend  your  country 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA 


205 


and  to  maintain  year  political  existence.  Whilst  this  august 
monarch  prepares  the  happy  future  of  your  country,  show  your- 
selves ready  to  second  his  noble  efforts,  even  at  the  price  of 
your  blood.  The  same  chiefs  who  for  twenty  years  have  led 
you  on  the  path  of  glory,  will  know  how  to  bring  you  back  to  it. 
The  Emperor  appreciates  your  courage.  In  the  midst  of  the 
disasters  of  a  fatal  war,  he  has  watched  your  honor  survive 
events  for  which  you  were  not  responsible.  Great  feats  of  arms 
have  distinguished  you  in  a  struggle  whose  cause  was  often  not 
your  own.  Now  that  your  efforts  are  consecrated  to  your  coun- 
try, you  will  be  invincible.  .  .  .  Thus  you  will  reach  that  happy 
position  which  others  may  promise,  but  the  Emperor  alone  can 
secure  to  you."  This  proclamation,  by  which  Russia  adopted 
all  the  glories  of  the  ancient  army  of  Warsaw,  was  the  most 
magnificent  of  amnesties.  In  a  letter  of  Alexander  to  Oginski, 
President  of  the  Polish  Senate,  dated  the  30th  of  April,  18 15,  he 
takes  the  title  of  King  of  Poland,  and  speaks  of  the  efforts  he 
had  made  to  "  soften  the  rigors  of  separation,  and  even  to  ob- 
tain for  the  Poles  all  possible  enjoyment  of  their  national  insti- 
tutions." 

On  the  21st  of  June,  1815,  the  cannon  at  Warsaw  announced 
the  restoration  of  Poland.  As  a  delicate  attention  to  Polish 
loyalty,  the  act  of  the  King  of  Saxony's  abdication  was  pub- 
lished, as  well  as  the  manifesto  of  the  new  King  of  Poland. 
The  army,  assembled  in  the  plain  of  Vola,  took  the  oath  of  al- 
legiance. The  warlike  blazon  of  the  kingdom  was  wedded  to 
the  arms  of  Russia.  The  new  constitution  was  almost  the  re- 
production of  that  of  the  Napoleonic  grand  duchy.  It  contained 
a  senate  and  a  chamber  of  deputies :  the  senate  was  composed 
of  bishops,  vo'ievodes,  castellans,  nominated  as  life  members  by 
the  king;  the  chamber,  of  seventy-seven  noble  deputies,  and 
fifty-one  deputies  of  towns.  The  necessary  qualification  was 
property  rated  at  fifteen  roubles  for  the  deputies,  and  300  for  a 
senator ;  the  former  must  have  reached  the  age  of  thirty,  the 
latter  that  of  thirty-five.  The  electors  of  the  deputies  were  pro- 
prietors above  the  age  of  twenty-one,  priests,  professors,  learned 
men,  and  artists.  The  diet  was  to  meet  every  two  years,  and  to 
sit  thirty  days.  Laws  had  to  be  passed  by  both  chambers,  and 
sanctioned  by  the  king.  The  constitution  declared  the  liberty 
of  the  press,  with  the  exception  of  one  law  which  restrained  its 
abuses.  Amongst  the  responsible  ministers,  we  find  some  men 
of  the  former  regime.  Sobolevski  was  Minister  of  Finance, 
Matuszevicz  of  the  Interior,  Stanislas  Potocki  of  Education, 
Vavrjevski  of  Justice,  Vie'le'horski  of  War.  The  namiestnik,  or 
viceroy,  was  Zai'ontchek,  a  veteran   of   the    Napoleonic  wass. 


2  q6  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS1A. 

Cons-tantine,  the  Emperor's  brother,  was  commander-in-chief  of 
the  Polish  army;  Novossiltsof,  imperial  commissioner.  They 
had  thus  taken  the  places  of  Poniatovski,  leader  of  the  Poles, 
and  of  Bignon,  the  envoy  of  Napoleon.  The  ministers  formed 
the  council  of  government,  and,  united  to  the  principal  digni- 
taries, they  formed  the  general  council  of  the  kingdom.  Czar- 
toryski  could  not  console  himself  for  not  having  been  chosen 
namiestnik. 

Alexander's  mystic  notions  soon,  however,  began  to  obscure 
his  liberal  ideas.  The  act  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  which,  inoffen- 
sive though  it  was,  made  such  a  noise  in  Europe,  is  a  singular 
monument  and  a  curious  proof  of  his  temper  at  this  period. 
The  King  of  Prussia  signed  it  willingly,  the  Emperor  of  Austric 
without  knowing  why,  Louis  XVIII.  surely  with  a  smile  ;  Cas- 
tlereagh  refused  his  signature  "  to  a  simple  declaration  of  bibli- 
cal principles,  which  would  have  carried  England  back  to  the 
epoch  of  the  Saints,  of  Cromwell,  and  the  Roundheads."  Not- 
withstanding, Russia  had  then  in  Europe  a  preponderating  in- 
fluence, out  of  proportion  with  her  real  strength  and  the  number 
of  her  army.  But  it  was  she  who  had  given  the  signal  for  the 
struggle  against  Napoleon,  and  had  shown  the  most  persever- 
ance in  pursuit  of  the  common  end.  Alone,  she  could  never 
have  crushed  the  man  of  destiny,  but  without  her  example  the 
States  of  Europe  would  never  have  dreamed  of  arming  against 
him.  Her  skilful  leniency  towards  France  finished  the  work 
begun  by  the  war.  Alexander  was  incontestably  the  head  of 
the  European  areopagus.  Nicholas  had  to  commit  many  faults 
before  Russia  lost  this  place,  which  prestige  and  public  opinion 
had  given  her. 

Alexander's  influence  showed  itself  in  the  congresses  in 
which  the  European  States  tried  to  arrange  together  the  affairs 
of  the  Continent.  The  first  in  date  after  the  Congress  of  Vienna 
is  that  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  (1818),  which  regulated  the  relations 
of  Europe  with  France ;  this  country  appeared  sufficiently  quiet 
for  the  occupation  to  cease.  This  was  not  the  fault  of  the 
Court  of  Artois  and  of  the  "  pavilion  de  Marsan  ; "  but  their 
famous  secret  note  only  made  Alexander  indignant.  In  a  visit 
which  he  paid  to  Louis  XVIIL,  he  said,  "  If  any  of  my  subjects 
had  committed  a  similar  crime,  I  should  have  put  him  to  death." 
Richelieu  had  gained  his  object,  the  entrance  of  France  into  the 
European  assembly. 

The  second  congress  was  that  of  Carlsbad  (18 19),  where  the 
tone  of  mind  prevalent  in  Germany  was  discussed.  The  dis- 
loyalty of  the  German  princes,  who  had  forgotten  the  promises 
of  liberty  made  in  18 13  ;  that  of  Frederick  William  III.,  who 


H1ST0R  Y  OF  R USSIA.  207 

had  caused  himself  to  be  absolved  from  his  engagements  by  the 
Prussian  bishop  Eylert ;  and  the  reactionary  influence  of  Metter- 
nich  on  the  Diet  of  Ratisbon,had  provoked  a  general  stir  in  German 
public  opinion.  The  young  men  and  University  professors,  the 
liberal  writers,  and  the  former  members  of  the  Tugenbund,  de- 
manded the  promised  constitutions.  The  ecstatic  demonstrations 
of  the  German  students,  and  the  murder  of  Kotzebue  by  Maurice 
Sand,  shook  all  the  cabinets.  It  is  from  this  moment  that  Alex- 
ander's character  seems  to  change  :  the  liberator  of  Europe,  the 
champion  of  liberal  ideas,  submits  in  his  turn  to  the  influence  of 
Metternich  ;  he  subscribes  to  measures  which  have  for  their  aim 
to  deprive  Germany  of  the  liberties  which  he  himself  had  prom- 
ised in  1813.  The  press  is  subjected  to  a  rigorous  censure;  the 
Universities  are  closely  watched  and  the  liberal  professors 
expelled ;  and  the  patriots  of  the  war  of  independence,  and 
Alexander's  companions  in  arms,  are  obliged  to  seek  refuge  in 
the  France  they  had  despoiled. 

Soon  the  stir  in  men's  minds  spread  through  Europe.  Spain 
rose  and  imposed  a  constitution  on  her  king :  this  constitution 
became  an  object  of  envy  to  the  neighboring  peoples ;  then 
broke  out  the  revolutions  of  Portugal,  Naples,  and  Piedmont. 
As  champion  of  divine  right  Alexander  now  defended  the  detest- 
able kinglets  of  the  South,  Ferdinand  VII.  of  Spain  and  Ferdi- 
nand IV.  of  Naples,  who  had  perjured  themselves  to  their  people. 
He  who  wished  to  give  Poland  a  constitution,  and  to  guarantee 
that  of  France,  opposed  to  the  utmost  the  constitutional  meas- 
ures of  Spain  and  Italy.  By  an  aberration  similar  to  that  of  Paul 
I.  he  thought  himself  obliged  to  interfere  in  these  remote 
regions,  about  questions  foreign  to  the  interests  of  Russia.  He 
convoked  a  congress  at  Troppeau  (1820),  then  transferred  it  to 
Laybach,  so  that  the  King  of  Naples  might  more  easily  be 
present  at  it,  be  absolved  from  his  constitutional  oath,  and  pro- 
voke vengeance  against  his  too  credulous  subjects.  Alexander 
was  on  the  point  of  sending  an  army  to  Naples  under  the  com- 
mand of  Ermolof,  the  hero  of  Borodino  and  of  Kiilm ;  but 
Austria,  always  uneasy  at  Russian  interference  in  Italy,  hastily 
despatched  Frimont,  who  put  an  end  to  the  Neapolitan  and 
Piedmontese  constitutions.  The  Russian  flag  thus  escaped 
the  doubtful  honor  of  protecting,  as  in  1799,  the  bloody  Neapol- 
itan reaction,  and  of  sanctioning  the  vengeance  of  Austria  against 
Pellico,  Pallavicini,  and  Maroncelli.  Ermolof  rejoiced  at  it. 
"  There  is  no  example,"  he  writes,  "  of  a  general  appointed  to 
command  an  expedition  being  so  delighted  as  I  am  that  there 
is  no  war.  It  is  by  no  means  advantageous  to  one's  reputation 
to  appear  in  Italy  after  Souvorof  and  Bonaparte,  who  will  be  the 
admiration  of  future  centuries." 


208  HIS  TOR  ¥  OF  R  C7SSIA. 

In  1822  the  Congress  of  Verona  took  place.  Russia  sent, 
like  the  other  Powers,  a  threatening  note  to  the  constitutional 
cabinet  of  Madrid.  The  latter  returned  a  proud  answer  ;  it  was 
the  French  army  which  was  entrusted  to  carry  out  the  wL~k«-s  of 
Europe  beyond  the  Pyrenees. 

Still  graver  events  were  at  hand  in  the  East.  The  Balkan 
peninsula,  almost  entirely  peopled  by  the  co-religionists  of  the 
Russians,  began  to  move.  The  Ottoman  yoke  bore  heavily  on 
all.  The  Wallachians  and  Moldavians  complained  of  the  viola- 
tions of  the  Treaty  of  Bucharest.  The  Servians,  whose  indepen- 
dence Alexander  had  guaranteed,  and  who  had  been  crushed 
by  the  Porte  while  the  eyes  of  Europe  were  turned  another  way, 
had  taken  up  arms  under  Miloch  Obrenvitch.  The  hetairia 
propagated  itself  in  all  the  provinces,  in  all  the  isles  of  Greece  ; 
it  counted  already  one  martyr,  Rigas,  delivered  up  by  the  Aus- 
trians  and  executed  by  the  Turks.  What  was  Alexander  to  do 
in  the  presence  of  this  awakening  universe  ?  Would  he  burn 
with  something  of  that  crusading  ardor  which  hurried  Peter  the 
Great  to  the  banks  of  the  Pruth  ?  Would  he  act  here  "  accord- 
ing to  the  principles  and  after  the  heart  of  Catherine,"  as  he 
said  in  his  manifesto  at  his  accession  ?  Would  Servia  find  in 
him  the  liberator  of  1813,  or  the  president  of  the  Congress  of 
Carlsbad,  the  man  of  legitimacy  at  all  costs,  the  champion  of 
absolute  monarchical  rights,  the  theorist  of  the  passive  obedience 
of  subjects  ?  This  seemed  so  impossible  to  the  nations,  that 
the  Greeks  refused  to  believe  Capo  d'Istria  when  he  asserted 
that  they  would  not  be  supported.  Ypsilanti  could  not  imagine 
that  the  Emperor  would  seriously  disavow  him  ;  he  crossed  the 
Pruth,  raised  the  Roumanian  populations,  and  succumbed  at 
Rymnik,  which  had  witnessed  the  triumph  of  Souvorof.  Alex- 
ander might  multiply  his  disavowals,  but  the  Peloponnesus  rose 
under  Kolokotroni,  and  the  Mainotes  under  Mavromichalis.  The 
war  of  extermination  had  already  begun  by  the  Mussulman  riot 
at  Constantinople.  At  the  feast  of  Easter  the  Greek  population 
were  assaulted,  and,  as  if  the  better  to  insult  the  orthodox  re- 
ligion, the  Patriarch  was  seized  at  the  altar,  and  hung  at  the 
doors  of  the  church  in  his  sacerdotal  robes.  The  Grand  Vizier 
amused  himself  for  an  hour  by  seeing  his  corpse  illtreated  by 
the  Turkish  populace,  and  dragged  through  the  mud  by  the 
Jews.  Three  metropolitans  and  eight  bishops  were  slain  (182 1). 
Russia  trembled  with  indignation.  Didbitch  drew  up  an  admir- 
able plan  of  campaign,  which  still  deserves  to  be  studied,  and 
which  he  executed  in  the  following  reign.  Alexander  exchanged 
diplomatic  notes  with  the  Porte,  and  allowed  himself  to  be  lulled 
to  sleep  by  England  and  Austria,  which  did  not  desire   inter- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


209 


vention.  The  massacres  continued.  Alexander  occupied  him- 
self about  them  at  Verona,  at  the  same  time  as  the  affairs  of 
Spain.  The  Russian  people  were  astounded,  and  attributed  to 
the  wrath  of  God,  irritated  at  the  impunity  accorded  to  the 
assassins  of  the  Greek  patriarch,  first  the  terrible  inundation  of 
St.  Petersburg,  and  soon  the  premature  and  mysterious  death  of 
Alexander. 

To  sum  up,  the  grandson  of  Catherine  had  added  to  the 
empire,  Finland,  Poland,  Bessarabia,  and  part  of  the  Caucasus 
(Daghestan,  Chirvan,  Mingrelia,  and  Imeritia), 


g  1 0  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ALEXANDER    I.  :    INTERNAL   AFFAIRS. 

Early  years:  the  triumvirate;  liberal  measures;  the  ministers;  public  in- 
struction— Speranski :  Council  of  the  Empire;  projected  civil  code  ;  ideas 
of  social  reform — Araktcheef  :  political  and  university  reaction;  military 
colonies — Secret  societies :  Poland — Literary  and  scientific  movement. 


EARLY     YEARS  :     THE     TRIUMVIRATE  ;      LIBERAL     MEASURES  ;     THE 
MINISTERS  ;    PUBLIC    INSTRUCTION. 

In  the  home  affairs  of  the  empire,  the  early  years  of  Alex- 
ander's reign,  succeeding  to  the  hard  rule  of  Paul  I.,  had  been 
a  period  of  emancipation,  of  generous  ideas,  and  liberal  reforms. 
The  Emperor  had  announced  in  his  manifesto  on  his  accession 
that  he  would  govern  "  according  to  the  principles  and  after  the 
heart  of  Catherine  II."  When  he  managed  to  free  himself  from 
the  guardianship  of  the  conspirators  of  the  24th  of  March,  1801, 
he  surrounded  himself  either  with  the  ministers  of  his  grand- 
mother, or  with  new  men,  young  like  himself,  who  shared  his 
great  hopes  and  his  schemes  of  regeneration.  Like  him,  they 
brought  to  the  regulation  of  affairs  much  inexperience,  but  im- 
mense good-will.  Those  who  at  that  time  most  influenced 
Alexander  were  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski,  Novossiltsof,  Stro- 
gonof,  and  Kotchoubey.  The  first  three  were  closely  united, 
and  were  known  by  the  name  of  the  triumvirate.  They  knew 
Western  Europe  better  than  Russia  ;  the  English  constitution 
was  their  ideal.  Czartoryski,  a  great  Polish  lord,  whose  family 
had  given  kings  to  Poland,  cherished  a  dream  of  the  re-organiza- 
tion of  his  native  country,  under  the  sceptre  of  the  Emperor  of 
Russia.  Guardian  ox  popetchitel  of  the  scholarly  circle  of  Wilna, 
he  profited  by  this  situation  to  favor  the  teaching  of  the  Polish 
language  in  White  Russia.  As  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  or 
intimate  adviser  of  Alexander,  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  interests 
of  his  nation,  at  whose  head  he  may  have  hoped  one  day  to  place 
himself,  in  the  capacity  of  viceroy  or  namiestnik  of  the  Emperor. 

The  tyrannical  measures  of  the  preceding  reign  were  re» 


HIS  TOR  V  OF  R  USSIA.  2 1 1 

versed  ;  the  Russians  were  again  permitted  to  travel  abroad 
freely,  and  foreigners  were  allowed  to  penetrate  into  Russia. 
European  books  and  papers  entered  the  country  freely,  the 
censure  was  mitigated,  and  new  instructions  ordered  the  doubtful 
passages  of  a  book  to  be  interpreted  in  the  sense  most  favor- 
able to  the  innocence  of  the  author.  The  "secret  expedition," 
another  form  of  the  secret  court  of  police,  or  of  the  State  in- 
quisition, was  abolished,  and  its  functions  handed  over  to  the 
senate.  Priests  and  deacons,  gentlemen  and  citizens  of  guilds, 
were  declared  exempt  from  corporal  punishments. 

Grander  designs  were  brought  forward  in  the  council  of  the 
young  sovereign.  As  an  introduction  to  the  code  of  the  empire, 
a  sort  of  constitutional  scheme  was  discussed,  in  which  the 
privileges  of  the  supreme  power  were  defined,  its  obligations 
spoken  of,  and  where  the  rights  of  subjects,  and  of  the  four 
orders  of  the  State,  were  in  question.  A  sort  of  civil  list  was 
established,  under  the  name  of  "  his  Majesty's  cabinet."  The 
emancipation  of  the  serfs,  as  in  the  brightest  period  of  the  reign 
of  Catherine  II.,  was  the  topic  of  the  day.  The  situation  of  the 
Crown  peasants,  who  were  much  more  free  and  happy  than  those 
belonging  to  individuals,  was  assured  by  the  resolution  taken  by 
the  Emperor  to  make  no  more  donations  of  "  souls."  A  million  of 
roubles  were  even  devoted  yearly  to  the  acquisition  of  land  with 
serfs  for  the  Crown.  While  waiting  for  a  more  general  measure, 
Alexander  put  forth  the  edict  of  February  1803,  which  legalized 
contracts  of  freedom  voluntarily  entered  into  between  the 
owners  and  their  slaves  ;  the  individuals  or  the  communes  who 
thus  acquired  liberty  while  they  kept  their  land  formed  in  Russia 
a  new  class,  the  "  free  cultivators,"  who,  with  the  ancient  odnod- 
vortsi,  became  the  nucleus  of  a  rural  third  estate.  The  German 
nobility  of  Esthonia  in  18 16,  that  of  Courland  in  181 7,  and  that 
of  Livonia  in  1819,  resolved  to  anticipate  the  needs  of  the  new 
century,  so  as  not  to  be  obliged  to  submit  to  them  entirely  ;  they 
took  the  initiative  in  the  emancipation  of  Lett  or  Tchoud  serfs, 
in  order  that  they  might  consult  their  own  interests  in  the  opera- 
tion. "  All  the  serfs  of  these  provinces,"  says  M.  Bogdanovitch, 
"  were  gradually  to  pass  in  an  interval  of  fourteen  years  to  the 
condition  of  free  persons.  It  was  forbidden  to  sell  them  with  or 
without  land,  individually  or  by  families,  to  give  them  away,  to 
hire  them  out,  or  to  make  them  slaves  by  any  means  whatever. 
Their  right  to  acquire  land,  houses,  and  other  property  was 
recognized.  In  civil  cases  they  were  in  the  first  two  instances 
amenable  to  judges  elected  by  themselves  and  partly  drawn 
from  among  them.  Thus  they  had  now  only  civil  relations  with 
their  former  masters ;  but  as  the  latter  had  distributed  no  lands 


2 1 2  ft  IS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

among  them,  the  serfs  were  kept  in  a  burdensome  state  of 
dependence  upon  them."  Formerly  they  were  slaves  body  and 
soul,  but  possessed  lands  ;  now  they  were  free,  but  forced  for 
their  livelihoods  to  continue  to  cultivate  for  others,  as  farmers 
or  day-laborers,  the  soil  which  had  belonged  to  their  warlike  an- 
cestors. 

The  prohibitions  of  the  former  reigns  against  the  sale  of 
slaves  at  auctions,  and  the  separation  of  the  members  of  one 
family,  were  renewed.  The  abuse,  however,  still  continued,  and 
Nicholas  Tourgue'nief  assures  us  that  there  was  a  public  slave- 
market  almost  under  the  windows  of  the  imperial  palace. 

Alexander  also  gave  evidence  of  his  good  intentions  towards 
the  raskolniks.  "  Reason  and  experience,"  says  the  edict,  "  have 
for  a  long  while  proved  that  the  spiritual  errors  of  the  people, 
which  official  sermons  only  cause  to  take  deeper  root,  cannot  be 
cured  and  dispelled  except  by  forgiveness,  good  examples,  and 
tolerance.  Does  it  become  a  government  to  employ  violence 
and  cruelty  to  bring  back  these  wandering  sheep  to  the  fold  of 
the  church  ?  "  These  inoffensive  sects  were,  on  the  other  hand, 
protected ;  Alexander  visited  their  settlements  more  than  once 
in  the  course  of  his  travels.  A  sect  of  dancing  raskolniks  were 
allowed  to  celebrate  their  rites  in  the  Mikhail  Palace,  and  Prince 
Galitsyne,  Minister  of  Worship,  was  seen  honoring  with  his 
presence  the  absurdities  of  the  priestess  Tatarinof,  and  the 
sacred  dances  of  her  adherents. 

In  political  institutions,  two  great  innovations  took  place  in 
1802.  The  collegiate  organization  of  the  branches  of  the  ad« 
ministration  was  set  aside  ;  the  colleges  of  Peter  the  Great,  which 
had  succeeded  the  prikazes  of  the  ancient  Tzars,  were  now  re- 
placed by  ministers,  after  the  European  custom.  Here  is  a  list 
of  the  first  ministry  of  Alexander  I. :  War,  General  Vismiati- 
nof ;  Marine,  Admiral  Mordvinof,  a  bold  patriot  and  distinguished 
administrator ;  Foreign  Affairs,  the  Chancellor  Alexander 
Voronzof,  nephew  of  Elizabeth's  great  Chancellor  ;  Home  Office, 
Count  Kotchoubey  ;  Justice,  Derjavine,  the  poet ;  Finance 
Count  Vassilief;  Commerce,  Count  Roumantsof  celebrated  for 
his  patronage  of  arts  and  sciences  ;  Public  Education,  Count 
Zavadovski.  The  number  and  functions  of  the  ministers  were 
more  than  once  modified.  Ministers  of  domains,  of  the  Crown, 
of  general  control,  of  roads  and  bridges,  and  of  the  Emperor's 
household,  were  afterwards  created. 

The  second  innovation  bore  upon  another  great  institution 
of  Peter  I.,  the  Senate,  whose  importance  had  been  lessened  by 
the  formation  of  an  imperial  council,  presided  over  by  the  Em- 
peror or  by  an  appointed  minister.     Ministers  and  the  general 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


213 


council  lacked,  however,  one  essential  thing, — responsibility. 
Autocracy  abdicated  none  of  its  rights.  "  Sire,"  remarked,  on 
one  occasion,  one  of  the  councillors  of  Alexander,  "  if  a  minister 
refuse  to  sign  an  edict  of  your  Majesty,  would  the  edict  be  bind- 
ing without  this  formality?  "  "  Certainly,"  replied  Alexander  ; 
"  an  edict  must  be  executed  under  all  circumstances." 

Alexander  and  his  young  fellow-laborers  undertook  a  vast 
re-organization  of  public  education.  The  empire  was  divided 
into  six  scholastic  circles.  That  of  St.  Petersburg  included 
eight  governments ;  that  of  Moscow,  eleven  ;  that  of  Dorpat, 
three  (the  three  German  provinces)  ;  that  of  Kharkof,  sixteen 
(with  the  Caucasus  and  Bessarabia)  ;  that  of  Kazan,  twelve 
(with  Siberia)  ;  that  of  Wilna,  six  (White  Russia).  At  the  head 
of  each  circle  was  placed  a  popetchitd,  or  guardian,  ordinarily  a 
considerable  personage,  like  Novossiltsof,  Potocki,  or  Adam 
Czartoryski,  charged  with  the  protection  of  the  schools  and  their 
general  direction. 

For  the  instruction  of  the  clergy,  ecclesiastical  schools  were 
founded,  whose  revenues  were  obtained  from  the  exclusive  sale 
of  tapers  in  the  churches.  Above  these  schools  were  seminaries  ; 
next  the  ecclesiastical  Academies  of  Moscow,  St.  Petersburg, 
Kazan,  and  Kief.  For  the  laity  were  established  parish  and 
district  schools,  and  gymnasia  (secondary  instruction);  to  furnish 
masters,  the  pedagogic  institutes  of  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg. 
The  Universities  of  Moscow,  Wilna,  and  Dorpat  were  re-organ- 
ized ;  those  of  Kazan  and  Kharkof,  and,  later,  that  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, founded.  There  was  a  plan  of  establishing  two  at  Tobolsk 
and  Oustiougue.  Fifteen  government  schools,  or  corps  of  cadets, 
were  also  founded,  where  the  young  nobles  could  receive  a  mili- 
tary education.  The  Lyce'e  Alexander  at  Tzarskod-Selo,  after- 
wards transferred  to  Kamennyi-Ostrof,  was  built  for  the  same 
purpose.  From  this  epoch  also  dates  the  lycee  of  commerce,  or 
Gymnasium  Richelieu,  at  Odessa,  and  the  Lazaref  Institute,  or 
6chool  for  Oriental  languages. 


SPERANSKI  :   COUNCIL  OF  THE  EMPIRE  ;    SCHEME  OF  THE  CIVIL 
CODE  ;    IDEAS  OF  SOCIAL  REFORM. 

From  1806  to  18 12,  the  preponderating  influence  over  Alex- 
ander was  that  of  Speranski.  The  son  of  a  village  priest,  edu- 
cated at  a  seminary,  then  mathematical  and  philosophical  pro- 
fessor at  the  school  of  Alexander  Nevski,  preceptor  to  the  chil 
dren  of  Alexis  Kourakine,  thanks  to  whom  he  quitted  the  ecclesi- 
astical career  for  the  civil  service,  he  became  secretary  to  Tro» 


214  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

chtchinski,  at  that  time  chancellor  of  the  imperial  council. 
Later,  when  director  of  the  department  of  the  Interior  under 
Prince  Kotchoubey,  Speranski  succeeded  to  the  post  of  Secre- 
tary of  State,  and  began  to  enjoy  the  absolute  confidence  of  the 
Emperor.  The  favorites  of  the  preceding  period  were  all  imbued 
with  English  ideas ;  Speranski,  on  the  contrary,  loved  France, 
had  imbibed  the  principles  of  the  Revolution,  and  entertained  a 
deep  admiration  for  Napoleon.  These  French  sympathies,  then 
shared  by  Alexander  I.,  formed  a  fresh  bond  between  the  prince 
and  the  minister — a  bond  which  was  severed  by  the  rupture  be- 
tween the  Emperor  and  Napoleon.  "  Besides,"  says  M.  Bogdano- 
vitch, "  we  know  the  inclinations  of  Alexander  for  representative 
forms  and  constitutional  governments,  which  could  not  fail  to  se- 
duce the  former  disciple  of  Laharpe  ;  but  this  taste  resembled  that 
of  a  dilettante  who  goes  into  ecstasies  over  a  beautiful  picture. 
Alexander  had  promptly  convinced  himself  that  neither  the  vast 
extent  of  Russia,  nor  the  constitution  of  civil  society,  allowed 
this  dream  to  be  realized.  He  therefore  deferred  the  execution 
of  his  Utopia  from  day  to  day,  but  delighted  to  hold  conversations 
with  his  friends  about  his  projected  constitution  and  the  disad- 
vantages of  absolutism.  Speranski,  to  please  the  Emperor, 
show«d  himself  the  ardent  defender  of  the  principles  of  liberty, 
and  thereby  was  exposed  to  accusations  of  entertaining  anarchical 
ideas,  and  scheming  against  the  institutions  consecrated  by  time 
and  manners."  Hard-working,  well-educated,  both  patriotic  and 
humane,  he  would  have  been  the  man  to  realize  all  that  was 
practicable  in  the  Utopias  of  Alexander. 

Speranski  presented  a  systematic  plan  of  reforms  to  his  sov- 
ereign. The  Council  of  the  Empire  received  still  more  exten- 
sive privileges.  Composed  of  the  chief  dignitaries  of  the  State, 
it  became  in  some  measure  the  legislative  power ;  it  had  to 
examine  all  the  new  laws,  the  extraordinary  measures,  the  rela- 
tions of  the  ministers.  It  was  a  kind  of  sketch  of  a  representa- 
tive government.  The  Council  of  the  Empire  was  divided  into 
four  departments :  war,  law,  political  economy,  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical affairs.  Alexander  solemnly  opened  this  parliament  of 
officials  on  the  ist-i3th  of  January,  1810.  Speranski  was  nomi- 
nated secretary  of  the  Council  of  the  Empire.  All  affairs  passed 
through  his  hands :  he  became  in  a  manner  the  Prime  Minister. 
To  his  mind,  the  Council  of  the  Empire  being  at  the  head  of  the 
legislation,  and  the  ministers  at  the  head  of  the  administration, 
the  Senate  ought  to  occupy  the  same  rank  in  the  judicial  order. 
As  the  legislative  power  had  been  re-organized  by  the  reform  of 
the  council,  and  the  administrative  power  by  the  reform  of  the 
ministry,  so  the  judicial  power,  in  its  turn,  ought  to  undergo  a 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


til 


complete  change.  The  tribunals,  in  his  opinion,  ought  to  be 
partly  composed  of  judges  nominated  by  the  monarch,  partly  of 
judges  elected  by  the  nobles.  It  was  plain  that  Speranski  had 
studied  the  laws  of  the  French  assemblies,  the  system  of  Sidyes 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  year  VIII.  The  judicial  was  to  be 
followed  by  a  financial  reform.  Already,  by  the  edict  of  the 
2nd-i4th  of  February,  1810,  the  assignats  had  been  recognized 
as  part  of  the  national  debt,  and  were  to  be  guaranteed  by  the 
imposition  and  new  taxes ;  the  budget  was  to  be  published,  and 
a  fund  for  the  redemption  of  the  bonds  to  be  created.  Sper- 
anski, in  short,  had  in  his  mind  something  like  the  French 
Grand  Livre  and  the  budget  of  the  Western  States.  As  a  minor 
task  he  had  undertaken  to  codify  the  laws.  To  him  the  Code 
Napole'on — that  legacy  of  the  French  Revolution,  which  had  at 
that  time  been  adopted  by  Holland,  Italy,  the  Bund,  and  the 
Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw — seemed  the  very  model  of  all  pro- 
gressive legislation.  After  the  interview  at  Erfurt,  where  Napo- 
leon showed  him  particular  attention,  Speranski  had  been  ex- 
changing letters  with  the  French  legal  writers — Locre,  Legras, 
Dupont  de  Nemours,  and  had  made  them  correspondents  of  the 
legislative  commission  of  the  Council  of  the  Empire.  The  Code 
Napole'on  could  only  suit  a  homogeneous  nation,  free  from  per- 
sonal and  feudal  servitude,  where  every  one  enjoyed  a  certain 
equality  before  the  law.  Thus  Speranski  looked  on  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  serfs  as  the  corner-stone  of  his  building ;  he 
dreamed  of  forming  a  middle  class,  of  limiting  the  numbers  of 
the  privileged  classes,  and  of  forming  an  aristocracy  of  great 
families  like  the  English  peerage.  As  early  as  1809  he  had 
decided  that  persons  holding  University  degrees  should  enjoy 
certain  advantages  over  others,  when  aspiring  to  the  degrees 
of  the  Tchin.  Thus  a  doctor  would  be  on  a  level  with  the 
eighth  rank,  a  master  of  arts  with  the  ninth,  a  man  of  master's 
standing  who  had  not  taken  his  degree  with  the  tenth,  a  bachelor 
of  arts  with  the  twelfth. 

Speranski,  like  Turgot,  the  minister  of  Louis  XVIII.,  and 
like  Stein,  the  Prussian  reformer,  had  set  everyone  in  arms  against 
him.  The  nobles  of  the  court  anct  of  the  antechamber — the 
"  sweepers  of  the  parquets,"  as  Alexander  called  them — and 
the  young  officials  who  wished  to  owe  their  promotion  solely  to 
favor,  were  exasperated  by  the  edict  of  1809.  The  proprietors 
were  alarmed  at  Speranski's  schemes  for  the  emancipation  of 
the  serfs ;  the  senators  were  irritated  by  his  plan  of  re-organiza- 
tion, which  reduced  the  first  order  of  the  empire  to  the  position 
of  a  supreme  court  of  justice  ;  the  high  aristocracy  were  indig- 
nant at  the  boldness  of  a  man  of  low  extraction,  the  son  of  a 

Vol.  2  R  23 


1 1 6  MS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA . 

village  priest.  The  people  themselves  murmured  at  the  increase 
of  the  taxes.  All  these  injured  interests  leagued  themselves 
against  him.  The  minister  was  accused  of  despising  the  institu* 
tions  of  Muscovy,  of  daring  to  present  to  the  Russians  the  Code 
Napoleon  as  a  model ;  the  country  being  at  that  time  on  the  eve 
of  a  war  with  France.  The  ministers  Balachef,  Armfelt,  Gou- 
rief,  Count  Rostopchine,  and  the  Grand  Duchess  Catherine  Pav- 
lovna,  the  Emperor's  sister,  influenced  Alexander  against  him. 
The  historian  Karamsin  addressed  to  his  sovereign  his  enthu- 
siastic essay  on  New  and  Ancient  Russia,  in  which  he  made 
himself  the  champion  of  serfage,  of  the  old  laws,  and  of  autoc- 
racy. They  went  the  length  of  denouncing  Speranski  as  a 
traitor  and  accomplice  of  France.  In  March  1812  he  suddenly 
vanished  from  the  capital  and  went  as  governor  to  Nijni-Nov- 
gorod,  but  was  shortly  afterwards  deprived  of  his  post  and  sub- 
jected to  a  close  surveillance.  In  18 19,  when  passions  had 
calmed  down,  he  was  nominated  Governor  of  Siberia,  where  he 
was  able  to  render  important  services.  In  182 1  he  returned  to 
St.  Petersburg,  but  without  recovering  his  former  position. 


ARAKTCHEEF  :     POLITICAL    AND     UNIVERSITY       REACTION  ;      MILI- 
TARY COLONIES. 

Another  period,  another  season,  had  begun.  The  enemies 
of  Speranski — Armfelt,  Schichkof,  and  Rostopchine — were  in 
places  of  the  highest  trust :  but  the  favorite,  the  vre'mianchtchik 
ex  officio,  was  Araktche'ef,  the  rough  "  corporal  of  Gatchina,"  the 
instrument  of  Paul's  tyranny,  the  born  enemy  of  all  new  ideas 
and  all  thoughts  of  reform,  the  apostle  of  absolute  power  and 
passive  obedience.  He  first  gained  the  confidence  of  Alex- 
ander by  his  devotion  to  the  memory  of  Paul ;  next  by  his 
punctuality,  his  prompt  obedience,  his  disinterestedness  and 
habits  of  work,  and  by  the  naive  admiration  which  he  showed 
for  the  "  Genius  of  the  Emperor."  He  was  the  safest  of  ser- 
vants, the  most  imperious  of  superiors,  and  the  instrument  best 
fitted  for  a  reaction.  His  influence  was  not  at  first  exclusive. 
After  having  conquered  Napoleon,  Alexander  liked  to  think 
himself  the  liberator  of  nations.  He  had  freed  Germany ;  he 
spared  France,  and  obtained  for  her  a  charter;  he  granted  a 
constitution  to  Poland,  and  meant  to  extend  its  benefit  to  Russia 
If  the  censorship  of  the  press  had  become  more  severe,  and 
forbade  the  '  Messager  des  Lettres '  (  Viestnik  slovesnosti)  to  criti- 
cise "  his  Majesty's  servants,"  Alexander  had  not  yet  renounced 
ail  his  Utopias.     To  the  French  influence  succeeded  the  Protes* 


MSTVR  Y  OF  R  USSIA,  a 1 J 

(ant  and  English  influence.  The  French  theatres  were  shut 
and  Bible  Societies  opened.  The  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  established  itself  in  the  capital,  received  subscriptions 
amounting  to  300,000  roubles,  and  published  500,000  volumes  in 
fifty  different  languages.  The  Russian  Bible  Society,  with  its 
offshoot,  the  Cossack  Bible  Society  at  Tcherkask,  published 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  copies  of  the  holy  books.  At  this 
time  the  influence  of  Madame  de  Krtidener,  and  a  revival  of  the 
terrible  memories  of  March  1801,  had  made  Alexander  a  dreamy 
mystic.  He  received  a  deputation  of  Quakers,  prayed  and  wept 
with  them,  and  kissed  the  hand  of  old  Allen.  Notwithstanding, 
the  first  epoch  of  the  ministry  of  Araktche'ef  was  an'  epoch  of 
sterility.  If  at  present  there  were  no  reaction,  everything  had 
at  least  come  to  a  standstill.  The  war  of  18 12  had  interrupted 
the  reforms  which  had  been  begun,  and  they  were  not  resumed. 
There  was  an  end  of  the  Code  of  Speranski,  and  the  efforts  to 
compile  another  more  suitable  to  the  Russian  traditions  came 
to  nothing. 

The  character  of  Alexander  soon  sadly  changed.  He  grew 
gloomy  and  suspicious.  His  last  illusions  had  flown,  his  last 
liberal  ideas  were  dissipated.  After  the  congresses  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  and  Troppau  he  was  no  longer  the  same  man.  It  was 
at  Troppau  that  Metternich  announced  to  him,  with  calculated 
exaggeration,  the  mutiny  of  the  Semenovski,  his  favorite  regi- 
ment of  the  Guards.  From  that  time  he  considered  himself  the 
dupe  of  his  generous  ideas,  and  the  victim  of  universal  ingrati- 
tude. He  had  wished  to  liberate  Germany,  and  German  opinion 
had  turned  against  him  ;  his  pensioner,  Kotzebue,  had  been  as- 
sassinated by  Maurice  Sand.  He  had  sought  the  sympathy  of 
vanquished  France,  and  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  a  French  plot  had 
been  discovered  against  him.  He  had  longed  to  restore  Poland, 
and  Poland  only  desired  to  free  herself  completely,  while  Russia 
demanded  an  explanation  from  Alexander  of  the  new  danger  he 
had  created  on  his  frontier,  by  the  reconstruction  of  the  Lechite 
kingdom.  It  was  at  this  moment  that  the  Holy  Alliance  of  the 
sovereigns  became  an  alliance  against  nations  ;  at  Carlsbad,  at 
Laybach,  and  at  Verona  Alexander  was  already  the  leader  of 
the  European  reaction.  In  the  East  he  disavowed  Ypsilanti ; 
in  Russia  he  owned  the  influence  of  Araktche'ef  and  the  Ob- 
scuranti.     The  Araktche'evtchina  had  begun. 

Remonstrated  with  by  Archbishop  Serafim,  Alexander  broke 
with  the  Bible  Societies,  and  forced  his  old  friend,  Prince 
Galitsyne,  the  liberal  and  tolerant  Minister  of  Public  Instruction, 
to  resign.  Galitsyne  was  replaced  by  Schichkof.  The  censor* 
ship  became  daily  more  strict.    The  Jesuits,  who  had  been  c* 


2 1 8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

pelled  from  St.  Petersburg,  were  banished  from  the  whole 
empire,  as  a  punishment  for  their  proselytism  ;  and  they  really 
were  unnecessary  in  Russia,  for  the  orthodox  guardians  i  f  the 
Russian  universities  could  rival  them  in  the  art  of  stifling 
independent  thought.  The  popetchitel  of  Kazan  University  was 
Magnitski,  who  proposed  to  organize  the  teaching  in  accordance 
with  the  "  act  of  the  Holy  Alliance."  He  dismissed  eleven  of 
the  professors  ;  struck  out  of  the  list  of  honorary  members 
Abbe  Gregoire,  a  Frenchman  and  "  a  regicide  "  :  and  excluded 
all  suspicious  books  from  the  library,  notably  the  work  of  Grotius 
on  International  Law.  He  forbade  the  geological  theories  of 
Buffon  and  the  systems  of  Copernicus  and  Newton  to  be  taught, 
as  contrary  to  the  text  of  Scripture.  The  professor  of  history 
must  saturate  himself  with  the  ideas  of  Bossuet  in  his  '  Histoire 
Universelle.'  The  science  of  medicine  must  be  a  Christian 
science ;  dissection  was  almost  entirely  forbidden,  as  incom- 
patible with  the  respect  due  to  the  dead.  The  professor  of 
political  economy  was  enjoined  to  insist  principally  on  the 
virtues  that  turned  material  goods  into  spiritual  possessions, 
"  thus  uniting  the  lower  and  contingent  economy  with  the  true 
and  superior  economy,  and  by  this  means  forming  the  real 
science,  in  a  politico-moral  sense."  Nikolski,  professor  of  geome- 
try, already  demonstrated  in  the  triangle  the  symbol  of  the 
Trinity;  and  in  the  unity,  that  is  to  say,  the  number  one,  the 
divine  Unity.  At  Kharkof,  the  Professors  Schad  and  Ossipovski, 
and  at  St.  Petersburg  the  Professors  Galitch  (philosophy),  Her- 
mann and  Arsenius  (statistics),  and  Raupach  (history),  were 
expelled  from  the  universities.  They  were  summoned  by  the 
popetchitel  Rounitch  before  a  university  commission.  The  first 
was  accused  of  impiety,  because  he  had  taught  the  philosophy 
of  Schelling,  the  others  of  Maratism  and  of  Robespierrism,  for 
having  expounded  the  theories  of  Schlcetzer,  the  protege'  of 
Catherine  II.,  or  criticised  agricultural  serfage,  and  the  extent 
to  which  the  issue  of  paper  money  had  been  carried.  It  was 
forbidden  in  future  either  to  employ  professors  who  had  studied 
in  the  West,  or  to  send  thither  Russian  students. 

The  most  salient  feature  of  AraktcheeP s  administration,  of 
which  the  initiative  proceeded  from  the  gentle  Alexander,  was 
the  creation  of  military  colonies.  This  system  consisted  ot 
the  settlement  of  soldiers  among  the  peasants,  in  a  certain 
number  of  districts.  If  these  soldiers  were  married,  theii 
wives  were  also  brought  to  the  village  ;  if  they  were  not, 
they  were  married  to  the  daughters  of  the  peasants.  A  village 
was  therefore  composed  :  i.  Of  the  miUtary  settlers,  the  soldiers; 
2.  Of  colonized  peasants,  the  natives.     The  soldiers  assisted 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


219 


the  peasant  in  his  field  work  ;  the  children  of  both  were  destined 
for  military  service.  The  colonized  districts  were  removed  from 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  civil  authorities,  and  subjected  to  military 
administration  and  government.  The  total  in  these  military 
districts  in  the  governments  of  Novgorod,  Kharkof,  Mohilef, 
Ekaterinoslaf,  and  Cherson  amounted  to  138  battalions  and  240 
squadrons.  This  system  appeared  to  have  certain  advantages, 
which  gained  over  Speranski  himself.  It  secured,  people  said, 
regular  recruits,  lightened  the  burden  on  the  rest  of  the  popula- 
tion, raised  the  morals  of  the  soldier  by  keeping  him  with  his 
family,  guaranteed  him  an  asylum  in  his  old  age,  restored  to 
agriculture  the  labor  of  which  the  army  had  formerly  deprived 
it,  diminished  for  the  Government  the  expenses  of  the  army  and 
tor  the  people  the  cost  of  lodging  the  troops  and  paying  requisi- 
tions, and  finally  created  a  military  nation  on  the  frontier  of  the 
empire.  If  the  colonization  was  a  heavy  weight  upon  the 
natives,  they  were  compensated  by  various  advantages.  The 
Government  augmented  their  lots  of  land,  secured  them  personal 
liberty  like  that  of  the  Crown  peasant,  repaired  their  houses,  and 
dowered  their  daughters. 

The  country  people  did  not  understand  it  thus.  Subjected 
at  their  hearths  to  an  interference  more  annoying  than  that  of 
their  former  masters  and  their  stewards,  forced  into  a  twofold 
servitude  as  laborers  and  as  soldiers,  their  habits  and  traditions 
all  invaded,  they  cursed  Araktchdef's  ingenious  idea,  which  offi- 
cial circles  extolled.  Revolts  broke  out,  and  Araktcheef,  blam- 
ing the  gross  ignorance  and  ingratitude  of  the  mougik,  repressed 
them  with  implacable  severity. 


SECRET  SOCIETIES  :    POLAND. 

Other  elements  of  trouble  fermented  in  Russia.  We  are  no 
longer  in  the  time  of  Catherine  II.,  when  the  gravest  social  ques- 
tions could  be  discussed  with  impunity,  before  an  inattentive  or 
indifferent  nation.  The  noble  efforts  of  Alexander's  early  years 
now  found  a  decided  support  in  public  opinion.  Unfortunately 
the  sovereign  and  his  people  were  at  variance.  Whilst  a  party 
among  the  nation  had  become  enthusiastic  for  liberal  ideas, 
Alexander  had  grown  cold  about  them :  formerly  his  courageous 
initiative  was  hardly  appreciated  ;  at  present  it  was  the  back- 
sliding spirit  of  the  Government  which  irritated  the  country.  A 
transformation  had  taken  place  ;  it  was  not  in  vain  that  the  Rus- 
sian officers  had  seen  Paris,  had  dwelt  on  French  soil.  Those 
revolutionary  principles  of  which  under  Catherine  II.  men  had 


2  2  o  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

only  a  glimpse  across  the  prism  of  their  prejudices,  they  had 
found  realized  in  the  States  of  the  West,  and  had  been  forced 
to  remark  the  coincidence  of  their  triumph  with  the  rapid  devel- 
opment of  a  new  prosperity.  "  From  the  time  that  the  Russian 
armies  returned  to  their  country,"  writes  Nicholas  Tourguenief, 
"  liberal  ideas,  as  they  were  then  called,  began  to  propagate 
themselves  in  Russia.  Independently  of  the  regular  troops, 
great  masses  of  militiamen  (opoltckeniJ)  had  also  seen  foreign 
places.  These  militiamen  of  various  ranks  recrossed  the  frontier, 
went  back  to  their  homes,  and  related  all  that  they  had  seen  in 
Europe.  Facts  had  spoken  louder  than  any  human  voice.  This 
was  the  true  propaganda."  Pestel,  one  of  the  conspirators  of 
1825,  acknowledged  that  "  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons  had 
made  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  my  ideas  and  political  convic- 
tions. I  then  saw  that  though  the  greater  number  of  the  insti- 
tutions necessary  to  the  well-being  of  a  State  were  brought  in  by 
the  Revolution,  they  were  continued  after  the  re-establishment 
of  the  monarchy  as  conducive  to  the  public  welfare,  whilst 
formerly  we  all,  myself  among  the  earliest,  rose  against  this 
Revolution.  From  this  I  concluded  that  apparently  it  was  not 
so  bad  as  we  represented  to  ourselves,  and  even  contained  much 
good.  I  was  confirmed  in  my  idea  by  observing  that  the  States 
in  which  no  revolution  had  taken  place  continued  to  be  de- 
prive:1 of  many  rights  and  privileges." 

People  not  only  read  Montesquieu,  Raynal,  Jean-Jacques 
Rousseau,  as  under  Catherine  II.,  but  Bignon,  Lacretelle,  De 
Tracy,  and  Benjamin  Constant ;  and  the  eloquent  voices  of  the 
French  tribune  found  an  echo  in  the  young  Russian  nobility  and 
part  of  the  middle  class.  Politeness,  the  spirit  of  justice,  and 
respect  for  the  human  person  had  made  great  progress.  Euro- 
pean culture  no  longer  lay  only  on  the  surface,  but  it  penetrated 
deeply  into  hearts  and  consciences.  Many  declared  like  Wil- 
helm  Ktlchelbecker :  "  At  the  thought  of  all  the  brilliant  quali- 
ties with  which  God  has  endowed  the  Russian  people, — that 
people  whose  language,  so  sonorous,  so  rich  and  strong,  is  with- 
out a  rival  in  Europe,  whose  national  character  is  a  mixture  of 
bonhomie,  of  tenderness,  of  lively  intelligence,  and  a  generous 
disposition  to  pardon  offences  ;  at  the  thought  that  all  this  was 
stifled,  and  would  wither  and  perhaps  perish  before  having 
produced  any  fruit  in  the  moral  world,  my  heart  nearly  broke." 
To  these  noble  souls  it  was  absolute  suffering  to  see  despotism 
hold  its  sway  through  all  the  grades  of  Russian  society,  in  all 
the  relations  of  the  autocrat  with  the  nation,  of  the  officials  with 
those  they  governed,  of  the  officials  with  their  soldiers,  and  of  the 
proprietors  with  the  peasants.    They  were  indignant  at  beholding 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  221 

the  Russian  people  alone  in  Europe  dishonored  by  the  serfage  of 
the  soil,  and  by  domestic  servitude,  that  shameful  legacy  of  ancient 
Slav  barbarism  and  the  Tatar  yoke,  that  Asiatic  ignominy  which 
continued  to  defile  a  Christian  people  ;  at  the  sight  of  the  Russian 
soldier,  the  conqueror  of  Napoleon,  the  liberator  of  Europe,  sub- 
mitting to  the  degradation  of  corporal  punishment.  They  did 
not  believe  that  the  inconstant  will  of  the  most  well-meaning 
autocrat,  that  the  good  intentions  of  an  Alexander — that 
"  happy  accident  among  his  family,"  as  he  said  himself  to 
Madame  de  Stael — could  make  up  for  the  want  of  laws  and 
liberal  institutions. 

In  spite  of  the  watchfulness  of  suspicious  police,  freemasonry, 
forbidden  since  the  time  of  Catherine  II.  and  Paul,  organized 
itself,  and  spread  over  Russia,  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  and  the 
Baltic  provinces.  Societies  of  a  more  warlike  character,  and 
with  a  definite  object,  whose  existence  for  a  long  while  remained 
a  secret,  were  also  constituted  at  certain  points.  It  was  in  1818 
that  the  Society  of  Virtue,  an  imitation  of  the  Germanic  Tugen- 
bund,  was  formed  at  Moscow,  and  reckoned  among  its  members 
Prince  Troubetskoi,  Alexander  and  Nikita  Mouravief,  Matvei 
and  Sergius  Mouravief-Apostol,  Nicholas  Tourgue'nief,  Feodor 
Glinka,  Michael  Orlof,  the  two  brothers  Fon-Vizine,  Iakouch- 
kine,  Lounine,  the  princes  Feodor  Schakovskoii  and  Obolenski, 
and  many  others.  The  members  of  this  association  were  not 
agreed  as  to  the  form  of  government  they  wished  to  give  to 
Russia,  some  clinging  to  the  idea  of  a  constitutional  monarchy, 
others  to  that  of  a  republic,  which  Novikof  had  been  one  of  the 
first  to  suggest.  This  society  was  dissolved  in  1822,  and  gave 
birth  to  two  others — the  Society  of  the  North,  or  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, which  had  constitutional  aims,  and  the  Society  of  the 
South,  which  recruited  its  associates  chiefly  among  the  officers 
of  the  garrisons  of  the  Ukraine  or  of  Little  Russia,  where 
Colonel  Pestel  preached  republicanism.  A  third  and  less  im- 
portant society,  that  of  the  United  Slavs,  dreamed  of  a  con- 
federacv  of  the  Slav  races,  and  tried  to  form  ramifications  in 
Bohemia,  Servia,  and  Bulgaria.  About  1823,  the  Russian  socie- 
ties entered  into  relations  with  the  Patriotic  Society  of  Poland, 
then  preparing  for  an  insurrection,  and,  in  order  to  secure  the 
help  of  the  Poles,  engaged  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  favor  the 
restoration  of  the  country.  The  most  ardent  members  of  thi 
Russian  associations  were  at  that  time  Colonel  Pestel  and  Ryleef, 
the  one  a  son  of  a  former  director  of  posts,  the  other  of  the  head 
of  police  under  Catherine  II.  By  the  warmth  of  their  republi- 
can convictions,  they  seemed  to  wish  to  expiate  the  servility  of 
their  fathers.     At  the  period  of  the  meetings  at  Kief  in  1823, 


22  2  KIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Pestel  had  read  a  scheme  of  a  republican  constitution  and  of  an 
equalizing  code.  As  the  chief  obstacle  to  th"  realization  of  his 
projects  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  existence  of  the  Romanof 
dynasty,  it  was  decided  not  to  shrink  from  the  murder  of  the 
Emperor,  and  the  extermination  of  the  imperial  family.  In  the 
bosom  of  the  Society  of  the  South,  a  still  closer  and  more  secret 
association  had  been  formed,  with  the  end  of  regicide  in  view. 
They  were  to  profit  by  the  first  opportunity  that  presented  it- 
self, which  happened  to  be  a  review  where  Alexander  was  to  in- 
spect, in  1824,  the  troops  of  the  Ukraine.  An  active  propa- 
ganda was  set  on  foot  among  the  soldiers  of  the  garrisons,  and 
common  soldiers  were  gained  over  by  promising  them  the 
liberty  of  the  peasants,  and  the  mitigation  of  the  military 
«6gim*. 


LITERARY   AND    SCIENTIFIC    MOVEMENT. 

The  awakening  of  the  Russian  mind  did  not  show  itself  in 
political  schemes  alone.  In  science,  in  letters,  and  in  arts,  the 
reign  of  Alexander  was  an  epoch  of  magnificent  blossom.  The 
intellectual,  like  the  liberal,  movement  had  not  the  exotic  and 
superficial  character  of  the  reign  of  Catherine.  It  penetrated 
deeply  into  the  heart  of  the  nation,  gained  in  power  and  in  ex- 
tent, carried  away  the  middle  classes,  and  propagated  itself  in 
the  most  distant  provinces.  The  impulse  given  in  1801  had  not 
stopped,  although  the  Government  at  once  tried  to  quell  the 
spirit  it  had  excited,  and  Alexander,  embittered  and dhillusionne, 
had  become  mistrustful  of  all  manifestations  of  private  thought. 
While  the  rigor  of  the  censorship  had  been  increased,  the 
number  of  secret  societies  was  not  at  all  diminished,  and  reviews 
and  literary  journals  continued  to  multiply. 

The  Bfcieda  was  now  formed,  the  literary  club  at  which 
Krylof  read  his  fables  and  Derjavine  his  odes,  and  which  repre- 
sented classical  tendencies ;  whilst  the  Arzamas  was  founded 
by  the  romantic  school — Joukovski,  Dachkof,  Ouvarof,  Pouch- 
kine,  Bloudof,  and  Prince  Viazemski.  At  St.  Petersburg  the 
Society  of  the  Friends  of  Science,  Literature,  and  Arts;  that  of 
the  Friends  of  Russian  Literature  at  Moscow,  which  published 
an  important  collection  of  its  "  transactions ;  "  that  of  the  His- 
tory of  Russian  Antiquities,  and  the  Society  of  Patriotic  Litera- 
ture, at  Kazan  ;  that  of  the  Friends  of  Science  at  Kharkof, 
and  many  others  of  less  importance,  devoted  themselves  to 
letters,  archaeology,  and  the  mathematical,  natural,  and  physical 
sciences.     At  St.  Petersburg  appeared  the  Northern  Post,  the 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS/A.  223 

St.  ^Petersburg  Messenger,  the  Northern  Mercury,  the  Messenger 
of  Sion,  organ  of  the  mystic  party,  The  Beehive,  and  The  Demo- 
crat, in  which  Kropotof  declaimed  against  the  influence  of 
French  ideas  and  manners,  and  in  the  '  Funeral  Oration  of 
Balabas,  my  dog,'  congratulated  this  worthy  animal  on  having 
studied  at  no  university,  on  never  having  occupied  himself  with 
politics,  on  never  having  read  Voltaire,  &c.  Literary  activity  was, 
as  ever,  still  greater  at  Moscow.  Karamsin  there  edited  a  re- 
view entitled  the  European  Messenger,  Makarof  the  Moscow  Mer- 
cury, Sergius  Glinka  the  Russian  Messenger,  in  which  he  tried  to 
excite  a  national  feeling,  now  putting  the  people  on  their  guard 
against  any  foreign  influence,  moral  or  intellectual,  now  arming 
them  against  Napoleon,  "  teaching  the  people  to  sacrifice  them- 
selves to  their  country,"  and  letting  loose  the  furies  of  the 
"  patriotic  war."  "  With  the  victory  of  Russia  over  the  invader 
his  task  ended,  aud  the  Russian  Messenger  disappeared,  but  his 
work  was  taken  up  by  Gretch  in  his  Son  of  the  Soil,  who  continued 
beyond  the  frontier  the  war  with  Napoleon,  whom  he  taunted 
as  a  "  murderer  "  and  an  "  infamous  tyrant,"  and  against  his 
companions  in  arms,  whom  he  called  "  brigands."  "  Taste  be- 
forehand," he  cries  to  the  conqueror,  "  the  immortality  which 
you  deserve.  Know  from  this  time  how  posterity  will  curse 
your  name  1  You  are  seated  on  your  throne  amidst  thunder  and 
flames,  like  Satan  in  the  midst  of  hell,  encircled  with  death, 
with  devastation,  fury,  and  fire."  The  Invalide  Russe  was 
founded  in  18 13,  for  the  benefit  of  wounded  or  infirm  soldiers. 
Even  when  the  warlike  fever  calmed  down,  and  men's  minds 
were  occupied  with  other  things  less  hostile  to  French  influence, 
this  great  literary  movement  still  continued. 

Almost  all  the  writers  of  this  period  took  their  part  in  the 
crusade  against  the  Gallomania  and  the  influence  of  Napoleon. 
Some  had  fought  in  person  in  the  war  with  France.  Joukovski 
was  present  at  Borodino  ;  Batiouchkof  had  marched  in  the  cam- 
paigns of  1807  and  18 13,  and  had  been  wounded  at  Heilsberg ; 
Petine  was  killed  at  Leipzig  ;  the  Princes  Viazemski  and  Schak- 
ovsko'i  had  served  among  the  Cossacks  ;  Glinka  in  the  opoltchenii 
in  which  Karamsin,  in  spite  of  his  age,  had  wished  to  enrol  him- 
self. Their  writings  bear  the  stamp  of  their  patriotic  passions. 
Krylof  has  written  other  things  besides  his  fables,  which  place 
him  not  far  from  La  Fontaine,  and  in  his  comedies  '  The  School 
for  Young  Ladies  '  and  the  '  Milliner's  Shop  '  he  turned  the  exag- 
gerated taste  for  everything  French  into  ridicule.  Amongst 
several  classical  tragedies  ('  CEdipus  at  Athens,'  '  Fingal,'  '  Poly- 
xena  ')  Ozdrof  wrote  that  of  '  Dmitri  Donskoi,'  which  recalled 
the  struggles  of  Russia  against  the  Tatars,  and  seemed  to  pre* 


224 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA 


diet  the  approaching  contest  with  another  invader.  The  tragedy 
of  '  Pojarski,'  the  hero  of  1612,  by  Krioukovski,  contains  allusions 
of  the  same  sort.  In  1806  the  poet  J  oukovski  had  sung  the  exploits 
of  the  Russians  against  Napoleon,  in  the  '  Song  of  the  Bard  on 
the  Graves  of  the  Victorious  Slavs,'  and  in  18 12  in  the  '  Bard  in 
the  Camp  of  the  Russian  Warriors.'  Rostopchine,  the  enemy 
of  the  French,  did  not  even  await  the  grand  crisis  to  empty  the 
vials  of  his  wrath  against  them. 

In  general  the  literature  of  the  time  of  Alexander  marks  the 
passage  from  the  imitation  of  the  ancients,  or  of  classic  French 
writers,  to  the  imitation  of  the  German  or  English  master- 
pieces. The  Besieda  and  the  Arzamas  formed,  as  it  were,  the 
head-quarters  of  the  two  rival  armies,  which  fought  in  Russia  the 
same  battle  as  the  French  romantic  and  classic  schools  at  Paris. 
Schiller,  Gothe,  Burger,  Byron,  and  Shakespeare  were  as  fash- 
ionable as  in  France,  because  they  were  strange,  and  because 
they  created  a  kind  of  literary  scandal.  If  Ozarof,  Batiouchkof, 
and  Derjavine  kept  up  the  traditions  of  the  old  school  Jou- 
kovski  translated  Schiller's  '  Joan  of  Arc '  and  Byron's  '  Prisoner 
of  the  Chillon,'  Pouchkine  contributed  '  Rousslan  and  Loudmila,' 
the  '  Prisoner  of  the  Caucasus,' the  'Fountain  of  Bakhtchi-Serai, ' 
and  the  '  Tsiganes  '  {i.e.  Gipsies),  and  began  his  romance  inverse 
of  '  Eugene  Onieghine'  and  the  drama  of  '  Boris  Godounof ' 
(1829). 

As  in  France  t*  e  romantic  movement  had  been  accompanied 
by  a  brilliant  rera;  sai.ee  of  historical  studies,  so  in  Russia  the 
dramatists  and  novelists  were  inspired  with  a  taste  for  national 
subjects  by  Karamsin's  '  History  of  Russia ' — a  work  uncritical 
in  its  method,  and  indiscriminating  in  its  appreciation  of  his- 
torical events,  but  remarkable  for  the  brilliance  and  eloquence 
of  its  style,  as  well  as  the  charm  of  its  narrative.  Schlcetzer 
had  just  edited  Nestor,  the  old  Kievian  annalist,  the  father  of 
Russian  history. 

Science  enjoyed  a  certain  amount  of  protection  in  this  reign. 
In  1803  the  Captains  Krusenstern  and  Lisianski,  accompanied 
by  the  savants  Tilesius  of  Leipzig  and  Horner  of  Hamburg,  ac- 
complished the  first  Russian  voyage  round  the  world,  in  the 
Hope  (Nadejda)  and  the  JVeva,  and  opened  relations  with  the 
United  States  and  with  Japan.  In  1815  Captain  Kotzebue  had 
explored  the  Southern  Ocean,  and  next  the  icy  ocean  to  the 
North,  and  sought  by  Behring's  Straits  a  communication  with 
the  Atlantic,  that  is,  the  North-west  passage  ;  others  surveyed 
the  coasts  of  Siberia,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  Asia  was  not 
joined  to  America,  as  the  Englishman  Burney  had  asserted. 

In  181 4  the  imperial  library  of  St.  Petersburg  was  solemnly 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


225 


thrown  open  to  the  public.  It  then  contained  242,000  volumes 
and  10,000  manuscripts.  The  nucleus  had  been  formed  by  the 
victories  of  Souvorof,  who  had  sent  to  Russia  the  library  of  the 
kings  of  Poland. 

In  spite  of  the  expenses  of  the  war,  the  Russian  cities  had 
received  some  embellishments.  At  St.  Petersburg  the  better- 
paved  streets  and  the  granite  quays  gave  evidence  of  the  care  of 
the  Government.  Thomont  built  the  palace  of  the  Bourse, 
Rosser  the  new  Mikhail  Palace,  and  Montferrand  began  the 
vast  and  splendid  cathedral  of  St.  Isaac.  St.  Peter's  at  Rome 
served  as  a  model  for  our  Lady  of  Kazan,  before  which  the  bronze 
statues  of  Barclay  de  Tolly  and  Koutouzof  were  afterwards 
erected.  In  1801  a  statue  was  erected  to  Souvorof.  Pultowa 
had  its  monument  of  Peter  the  Great's  victory ;  Kief  that  of  Vla- 
dimir the  Baptist ;  Moscow  those  of  Minine  and  Pojarski  (1818): 
but  the  plan  of  raising  on  the  Hill  of  Sparrows  at  Moscow  a 
colossal  church  dedicated  to  the  Saviour,  in  memory  of  the  deliv- 
erance, failed  through  the  inexperience  of  the  architect.  It  was 
only  carried  out  in  another  place,  during  the  present  reign. 

In  1825  Alexander  quitted  his  capital  to  visit  the  southern 
provinces,  and  intended  to  spend  some  time  at  Taganrog,  for 
the  benefit  of  his  health.  At  the  moment  of  his  departure  he 
appears  to  have  been  shaken  by  gloomy  presentiments,  and 
insisted  on  a  requiem  mass  being  said  at  the  monastery  of  St. 
Alexander  Nevski.  In  broad  daylight,  lighted  tapers  were  left 
in  his  room.  A  frightful  flood  that  had  happened  at  St.  Peters- 
burg some  time  before  was  looked  on  by  the  people  as  a  chas- 
tisement from  Heaven  for  Russia's  culpable  indifference  towards 
the  Christians  of  the  East.  At  Taganrog  Alexander  received 
circumstantial  accounts  as  to  the  conspiracy  of  the  Society  of 
the  South  and  its  schemes  of  regicide.  Cruel  recollections  of 
1801  may  have  mingled  with  his  melancholy.  He  thought  sadly 
of  the  terrible  embarrassments  which  he  would  bequeath  to  his 
successor ;  of  his  lost  illusions  ;  of  his  liberal  sympathies  of 
former  days,  which  in  Poland,  as  in  Russia,  had  ended  in  a  re- 
action ;  of  his  broken  purposes  and  changed  life.  In  the  Crimea 
he  was  heard  to  repeat,  "  They  may  say  what  they  like  of  me, 
but  I  have  lived  and  will  die  republican."  But  what  a  singular 
republic  is  the  system  preserved  in  the  memory  of  the  people 
under  the  name  of  "  Araktcheevtchina  "  !  On  the  19th  of  Nov- 
ember (1st  December)  the  Emperor  expired  in  the  arms  of  the 
Empress  Elizabeth.  How  would  Russia  celebrate  what  the 
Empress-mother  Maria  Feodorovna  already  called  the  "  obse< 
quies  of  Alexander  \ " 


aa6  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

NICHOLAS    I.    (1825-1855). 

The  December  insurrection — Administration  and  reforms — Public  education 
and  literature — War  with  Persia  (1826-1828) — First  Turkish  war:  libera- 
tion of  Greece  (1826-1829) — The  Russians  and  English  in  Asia — Polish  in- 
surrection (1831) — Hostility  against  France:  the  Eastern  question:  Revo- 
lution of  1848;  intervention  in  Hungary — Second  Turkish  war:  the  allies 
in  the  Crimea — Awakening  of  Russian  opinion. 


THE   DECEMBER    INSURRECTION — ADMINISTRATION    AND   REFORMS 
— PUBLIC    EDUCATION    AND   LITERATURE. 

By  the  law  of  primogeniture,  Alexander's  successor  should 
have  been  Constantine,  the  eldest  of  his  brothers,  but  in  order 
to  marry  the  Countess  Groudsinska,  afterwards  created  Prin- 
cess Lovicz,  Constantine  had,  in  1822,  declared  to  Alexander 
his  intention  of  renouncing  the  crown.  The  Emperor  had  ac- 
cepted, and  the  Empress-mother  had  approved,  his  renunciation ; 
and  in  1823  Alexander  had  drawn  up  a  manifesto  which  sanc- 
tioned the  resolution  taken  by  Constantine,  and  summoned 
Nicholas,  Paul's  third  son,  to  the  throne.  This  act  was  depos- 
ited at  the  Ouspienski  Sobor  at  Moscow,  but  was  kept  secret 
even  from  Nicholas  himself.  When,  two  years  after,  Alexander 
died  at  Taganrog,  Constantine  at  Warsaw  hastened  to  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  Nicholas,  but  Nicholas  at  St.  Petersburg 
thought  it  his  duty  to  swear  fealty  himself  to  Constantine,  and 
to  make  others  do  so.  It  was  only  on  the  12th — 24th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1825,  that  he  received  a  letter  from  Constantine  in  which  he 
repeatedly  and  formally  declared  his  intention  to  renounce  the 
throne.  Then  Nicholas  published  a  manifesto  announcing  his 
own  accession,  and  received  the  oaths  of  his  subjects. 

This  contest  of  generosity  between  the  two  brothers,  which 
so  strongly  contrasted  with  the  ambitious  habits  and  political 
revolutions  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  to  cost  the  empire 
dear.  During  these  few  days  of  interregnum,  people's  minds 
were  troubled  ;  they  did  not  know  whom  to  obey.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  secret  societies  profited  cleverly  by  this  perplexity  of 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


327 


opinion,  and  turned  the  attachment  of  the  masses  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  seniority  to  the  advantage  of  the  revolution.  The  con- 
spirators of  the  Society  of  the  North  had  resolved  to  act.  On 
the  i4th-26th  of  December  they  raised  some  of  the  troops,  the 
regiments  of  Moscow,  the  grenadiers  of  the  navy,  and  the  sea- 
men of  the  Guard,  by  persuading  them  that  the  news  of  Con- 
stantine's  resignation  was  false,  that  the  Tzare'vitch  was  prisoner 
in  Moscow,  and  that  the  oath  exacted  from  them  was  a  sacri- 
lege. The  insurgent  forces  threw  themselves  on  the  Place  du 
Sdnat,  shouting  "  Long  live  Constantine ! "  Some  of  the  con- 
spirators raised  the  cry  of  "  Long  live  the  Constitution  ! "  but 
this  idea  was  strange  to  the  masses,  and,  according  to  the  mon- 
archical historians,  the  ignorant  soldiers  believed  that  Constitu- 
tion was  the  name  of  Constantine's  wife.  Then  the  plotters  dis- 
tributed cartridges  among  them,  and  gave  the  signal  of  revolt 
by  massacring  or  wounding  the  officers  who  attempted  to  oppose 
the  movement.  Nicholas  had  harangued  the  crowd  who  had 
taken  up  their  position  before  the  Winter  Palace,  read  them  the 
manifesto  of  Alexander,  and  had  managed  to  disperse  them. 
The  military  insurgents  thus  found  themselves  deprived  of  the 
assistance  of  the  popular  element.  The  other  regiments  of  the 
Guard  and  nearly  all  the  garrison  remained  faithful.  The  rebels, 
however,  grouped  on  the  Place  du  Se'nat,  refused  to  listen  to 
reason.  Miloradovitch,  governor  of  the  capital,  tried  to  ha- 
rangue them  ;  but  this  hero  of  fifty-two  battles  was  killed  by  a 
pistol-shot.  The  metropolitan,  in  his  sacerdotal  robes,  was  also 
shot  at,  and  received  four  balls  in  his  mitre.  The  Emperor  had 
placed  himself  opposite  the  insurgents  ;  after  having  exhausted 
all  means  of  conciliation,  he  ordered  the  soldiers  to  fire  on  the 
barricades  which  had  been  hastily  raised.  A  few  rounds  sufficed 
to  scatter  the  crowd.  Five  hundred  were  taken  prisoners,  and 
in  the  night  many  surrendered  at  discretion.  At  seven  in  the 
morning  Nicholas  returned  victorious  to  his  palace. 

The  same  night  thirteen  conspirators  of  the  Society  of  the 
South  were  arrested.  This  did  not  check  the  operations  of  the 
society,  nor  of  that  of  the  United  Slavs.  The  two  Mouraviefs 
and  Bestoujef-Rioumine  had  collected  some  companies,  occupied 
Vassilkof,  and  marched  on  Kief ;  but  at  the  village  of  Ousti- 
movka  they  encountered  General  Geismar,  who  received  them 
with  a  discharge  of  grape-shot :  a  cavalry  charge  finally  put 
them  to  flight ;  700  men  laid  down  their  arms,  and  nearly  all  the 
leaders  were  made  prisoners. 

Nicholas  had  accorded  a  disdainful  pardon  to  Prince  Trou- 
betskoi,  whom  the  conspirators  of  the  capital  had  chosen  to  be 
head  of  the  Government,  and  who  had  ruined  everything  by  his 


j  2  8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

fickle  policy.  He  showed  a  certain  clemency  to  the  mass  of  the 
insurgents,  but  a  hundred  and  twenty-one  were  brought  before  a 
commission.  A  minute  inquiry,  and  many  confessions,  enabled 
him  to  find  the  threads  of  the  plot,  and  the  traitors  were  pun- 
ished more  or  less  severely.  Five  of  them — Pestel,  Ryleef, 
Sergius  Mouravief-Apostol,  Bestoujef-Rioumine,  and  Kakovski, 
the  assassin  of  Miloradovitch — were  condemned  to  be  hanged. 
They  did  honor  to  their  cause  by  their  courage  in  facing  a  pen- 
alty made  cruel  by  the  awkwardness  of  the  executioners.  Ryleef, 
the  head  of  the  Society  of  the  North,  said  after  his  condemna- 
tion, "  The  zeal  of  my  patriotism  and  my  love  of  my  country 
may  have  deceived  me  ;  but  as  my  actions  hav  been  guided  by 
no  personal  interest,  I  die  without  fear.  Pestel,  the  energetic 
dictator  of  the  South,  had  devoted  all  his  thoughts  to  the  safety 
of  his  Russian  Code  :  "  I  am  certain,"  aid  he,  "  that  one  day 
Russia  will  find  in  this  book  a  refuge  agaiust  violent  commo- 
tions. My  greatest  error  is,  that  I  have  wislied  to  gather  the 
harvest  before  sowing  the  seed."  Many  04.  heir  ideas  were  in- 
deed premature,  but  some  were  to  survive  iheir  originators,  and 
be  carried  into  execution  by  the  very  power  which  they  defied. 
They  had  desired  the  independence  of  the  peasants,  a  greater 
equality  of  rights,  and  more  stability  in  the  1  ±w.  In  spite  of 
their  faults,  which  they  paid  for  with  their  lives,  they  had  shown 
that  there  existed  in  Russia  men  capable  of  dying  for  liberty. 
They  gave  an  impetus  to  the  country  that  the  thirty  years'  reign 
of  Nicholas  could  not  destroy.  This  abortive  conspiracy  was  in 
certain  respects  the  beginning  of  the  regeneration.  Many  of 
the  old  ddcembristes  were,  in  letters,  arts,  and  political  economy, 
the  glory  of  their  country,  and  were  able  to  advance,  as  far  as 
it  was  practicable,  by  other  means,  the  work  they  had  already 
undertaken.  Nicholas,  who  had  inaugurated  his  reign  by  con- 
quering one  revolution,  was  to  be  all  his  life  the  enemy  of  revo- 
lution. In  Europe  as  in  Russia  he  was  the  champion  of  Con- 
servative principles.  If  he  carried  on  the  work  of  his  brother 
Alexander,  it  was  the  Alexander  of  later  years,  without  the  in- 
novating views  of  1801,  without  his  liberal  sympathies,  and  with- 
out his  humane  scruples.  Nicholas  I.,  with  his  colossal  stature, 
his  imposing  exterior,  his  mystic  pride,  his  infatuation  for  the 
role  of  a  pontiff-king,  his  iron  will,  his  power  of  work,  his  taste 
for  the  details  of  government,  his  passion  for  everything  military, 
always  buckled  tight  in  his  uniform  and  playing  his  part  before 
the  people,  was  a  formidable  incarnation  of  autocracy.  His 
reign  was  a  constant  protest  against  the  movement  of  the  world. 
He  kept  up  a  perpetual  struggle  against  the  living  forces  of  hu- 
manity, against  the  imperceptible  and  invincible  advance  of  the 


HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  2 29 

mind.  Nicholas  was  a  drag  upon  rather  than  an  obstacle  to 
progress.  When  his  power  broke,  under  its  ruins  was  seen  a 
ewn  world  which  had  already  arrived  at  maturity. 

One  of  the  first  cares  of  Nicholas  I.  was  to  take  up  the  work 
of  codification  of  the  Russian  laws,  so  often  sketched  out  by  his 
predecessors  :  by  Peter  the  Great,  with  the  help  of  the  Germanic 
laws  ;  by  Catherine  II.,  with  her  great  legislative  commission  ; 
by  Alexander,  with  the  almost  Napoleonic  project  of  Speranski. 
Nicholas  himself  could  only  collect  the  materials.  The  Russian 
laws  could  not  be  definitely  codified  till  society,  regenerated  by 
the  emancipation,  should  have  found  its  final  constitution.  In 
1830  appeared  the  'Complete  Collection  of  the  Laws  of  the 
Russian  Empire,'  which  Alexis  Mikhailovitch  had  begun  in  his 
ouloje"nie' ;  in  1838,  the  '  Collection  of  the  Existing  Laws,'  com- 

f tiled  after  a  systematic  scheme,  which  was  provisionally  to  make 
egislation  more  consistent,  and  the  tribunals  more  active.  It 
was  time,  for  2,850,000  causes  were  declared  to  be  pending,  and 
127,000  persons  committed  for  trial  still  awaited  judgment.  In 
1849  was  published  the  code  of  penal  and  corrective  justice. 
Tribunals  of  commerce  were  created,  for  the  more  prompt  dis- 
patch of  commercial  affairs. 

Peter  the  Great  had  established  a  law  of  entail.  Anne 
Ivanovna  had  suppressed  it,  as  being  opposed  to  Russian  man- 
ners. Nicholas  partially  re-established  it,  by  granting  the  father 
of  the  family  power  to  make  use  of  it  if  he  pleased.  The  custom 
of  pravege  still  existed  among  the  Don  Cossacks  :  it  was  now 
abolished.  Merchants  desirous  of  becoming  "  noble  "  thronged 
the  ranks  of  the  public  service  ;  Nicholas,  to  turn  their  ambition 
into  another  channel,  while  securing  them  the  same  advantages, 
created  a  new  subdivision  in  the  class  inhabiting  the  towns — that 
of  the  chief  citizens  {bourgeois  notables),  who  enjoyed  the  following 
prerogatives : — Exemption  from  the  poll-tax,  conscription,  and 
corporal  punishments ;  right  to  take  part  in  assessment  of  the 
landed  property  of  the  town,  and  the  right  of  being  elected  to 
the  communal  functions  of  the  same  rank  as  those  open  to 
the  merchants  of  the  first  guilds.  All  might  be  admitted  among 
the  chief  citizens  (bourgeoisie  notable)  who  had  a  certificate  of 
secondary  studies,  a  student's  diploma,  or  that  of  a  university 
student  eligible  for  the  degree  of  master  of  arts,  or  were  free- 
born  artists  and  had  a  certificate  from  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts. 
Nicholas  I.  here  took  up  one  of  the  traditions  of  Catherine  II., 
who  had  attempted  to  constitute  a  middle  class  at  the  same  time 
as  a  nobility.  He  tried  to  regulate  the  mode  of  procedure  among 
the  assemblies  of  peasants  in  the  rural  communes,  and  to  intro- 
duce the  ballot  by  black  and  white  balls.     The  autocratic  Tzar 


g3  o  HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA. 

was  one  of  the  first  to  introduce  universal  suffrage  into  Russia. 
As  to  the  vital  question  of  emancipation,  it  slumbered  during 
this  reign.  Nicholas  contented  himself  with  approval  of  the 
great  nobles  who  set  free  their  serfs.  The  Princess  Orlof- 
Tchesmenski  liberated  5518.  The  class  of  free  cultivators 
increased  very  slowly  ;  in  1838  it  only  counted  72,844  husband- 
men. The  edict  of  1842,  which  had  attempted  to  fix  the  con- 
ditions of  these  contracts  of  emancipation,  had  disquieted  the 
nobles.  The  Government  hastened  to  reassure  them  by  affirm- 
ing that  there  was  no  question  of  the  liberation  of  the  peasants, 
and  by  ordering  the  propagators  of  false  news  to  be  arrested, 
and  the  recall,  by  force  if  necessary,  of  refractory  serfs  to  their 
obedience.  Nicholas  established  his  aide-de-camp,  Protassof,  in 
the  court  of  the  Holy  Synod  ;  he  governed  the  national  church  in 
a  military  fashion  for  twenty  years,  and  had  no  scruples  about 
"  dragooning  "  the  dissenters  of  White  Russia. 

Nicholas  undertook  to  join  the  Don  and  the  Volga  by  means 
of  a  canal,  and  to  improve  the  navigation  of  the  Dnieper.  Under 
this  champion  of  immobility  the  first  railways  were  created.  He 
traced  in  a  straight  line  with  a  ruler  the  railway  between  Mos- 
cow and  St.  Petersburg  (130  leagues  long),  without  permitting 
it  to  go  out  of  its  way,  so  as  to  pass  through  any  towns  of 
importance.  A  small  branch  joined  Tzarskoe-Selo  to  the  capital. 
Russia  still  only  followed  at  a  great  distance  the  new  European 
enterprises ;  no  iron  road  united  her  to  the  West.  The  annoy- 
ances of  the  police,  the  censorship,  and  the  custom-house  dues  all 
contributed  to  isolate  her  in  Europe.  Her  autocrat  kept  the  rest 
of  Europe  in  a  kind  of  political  quarantine.  While  speaking  of 
public  works,  we  must  mention  the  reconstruction  in  fifteen 
months  of  the  Winter  Palace,  which  was  destroyed  by  the  fire  of 

1837. 

Nicholas  created  a  "professorial  institute  " — a  sort  of  normal 

school  for  the  higher  education — to  recruit  the  ranks  of  public 
schoolmasters,  and  a  "  principal  pedagogic  institute  "  for  the 
secondary  course  of  instruction.  His  object  was  to  remove 
the  Russian  youth  from  the  influence  of  foreign  masters.  There 
were  restrictions  as  to  the  employment  of  tutors  and  gover- 
nesses in  private  houses.  Their  capacity  and  their  morality  (in 
which  were  included  their  political  opinions)  were  to  be  certified 
by  one  of  the  universities  of  the  empire,  under  the  penalty  of  a 
fine  of  250  roubles  and  of  banishment.  It  was  forbidden  to 
send  young  men  to  study  in  Western  universities,  save  in  some 
exceptional  cases,  for  which  a  special  permission  was  required. 
In  the  Government  schools,  to  the  prejudice  of  foreign  lan- 
guages and  literature,  a  greater  development  was  given  to  the 


HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA. 


231 


Russian  language,  literature,  statistics,  and  history,  which  were 
considered  less  dangerous.  Other  obstacles  were  imposed  on 
freedom  of  foreign  travel  and  residence;  the  term  of  absence 
attested  by  legal  passports  was  fixed  at  five  years  for  the  nobles, 
and  three  for  other  Russians  subjects.  The  University  of  St. 
Vladimir  was  founded  at  Kief,  to  replace  that  of  Wilna,  which 
was  suppressed  after  the  Polish  insurrection.  The  scholastic 
reaction,  the  mistrust  of  German  philosophy,  went  so  far,  that 
philosophy  was  finally  forbidden  to  be  taught  in  the  universities, 
and  entrusted  to  the  care  of  ecclesiastics. 

Nicholas  bestowed  his  chief  attention  on  the  establishments 
for  military  education,  the  corps  of  cadets,  and  the  Military 
Academy.  He  created,  however,  a  school  of  law  and  a  techno- 
logical institute. 

The  scientific  publications  of  the  Government,  and  those  of 
the  Archaeographical  Commission,  furnished,  with  the  'complete 
Collection  of  Russian  Laws,'  new  materials  for  the  study  of 
national  history.  The  imperial  library  at  St.  Petersburg  was 
enriched  by  Pogodine's  cabinet  of  antiquities ;  to  the  liberality 
of  Count  Roumantsof  Moscow  owes  the  museum  and  library 
which  bears  his  name.  M.  Solovief  began  his  '  History  of 
Russia,'  and  Nicholas  PoleVoi'  wrote  his  '  History  of  the  Russian 
People.' 

The  censorship  weighed  heavily  on  the  development  of  the 
national  press.  Gretch  and  Boulgarine  founded,  however,  in 
1825,  the  Northern  Bee ;  Bie'linski,  the  prince  of  critics,  wrote 
successively  for  the  Observer,  started  by  Schevyref,  for  Kraievski's 
*  Annals  of  my  Country.'  and  for  the  Contemporary,  founded  by 
Panai'ef  and  Nekrassof,  which  reckoned  Pouchkine  among  its 
contributors.  Nicholas  Polevoi  in  the  Telegraph,  and  Naddjdine 
in  the  Telescope,  continued  the  struggle — the  one  in  the  name  of 
the  romantic,  the  other  in  that  of  the  classic  school.  The 
Slavophils  discussed  in  the  Muscovite  questions  relative  to  the 
unity  of  the  Slav  races  and  the  nationality  of  the  Russian 
people. 

This  period  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  as  fertile  in  Russian 
as  in  French  literature.  To  the  names  of  Lamartine,  Victor  Hugo, 
and  Alfred  de  Musset  correspond  those  of  Pouchkine  (the  first 
of  Russian  poets,  and  one  of  the  first  in  Europe)  ;  Lermontof, 
who  was  inspired  in  the  '  Demon  '  and  others  of  his  master- 
pieces by  the  wild  and  sublime  beauty  of  the  Caucasus  ;  Koltsof, 
who  discovered  a  new  source  of  poetry  in  the  popular  songs } 
Griboiedof,  whose  comedy  'Gore  ot  ouma'  (Too  Clever  by 
Half)  has  remained  one  of  the  stock  pieces ;  and  Gogol,  who  in 
his  play  of  '  Revisor  '  and  his  romance  of  the  '  Dead  Souls  '  ha» 


232 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


boldly  revealed  the  plague-spots  in  Russian  administration  and 
society.  Soukovski  translated  the  Odyssey  and  some  fragments 
of  Indian  and  Persian  poems  ;  Polevoi,  in  his  '  Oath  at  the 
Tomb  of  the  Saviour,'  'The  Deserted  One,'  'Dream  and  Life,' 
and  '  Hamlet,'  continued  the  romantic  movement  by  imitating 
Schiller,  Hoffmann,  Walter  Scott,  and  Shakespeare.  It  was  no 
barren  epoch  that  witnessed  the  appearance  of  Herzen  under 
the  name  of  '  Iskander ' ;  of  Ivan  Tourguenief,  who  in  his 
'  Memoirs  of  a  Huntsman  '  struck  the  prelude  to  a  European 
reputation  ;  of  the  novelists  Gontcharof  ('  A  Common  Story  '), 
Gregorovitch  (  '  The  Emigrants  '),  Pisemski  ( '  The  Liechi,' 
*  The  Petersburgher'),  Dostoevski  ( '  The  Poor  ')  ;  and  in  which 
the  Russian  public  could  applaud  the  comedies  of  Ostrovski, 
and  the  operas  of  the  great  composer  Glinka  ( '  Life  for  the 
Tzar,'  and  '  Rousslan  and  Loudmila').  The  Russian  intellect, 
spite  of  all  obstacles,  spread  its  wings  and  tried  unknown  paths, 
created  new  openings  for  itself,  and  nobly  gave  the  lie  to  the 
theories  of  immobility.  Russia,  isolated  though  she  was  from 
Europe,  still  took  her  place  among  the  great  European  nations. 


PERSIAN    WAR    (1826-1828) — FIRST     TURKISH     WAR:     LIBERATION 
OF   GREECE   (1826-1829) — ENGLISH    AND   RUSSIANS    IN    ASIA. 

After  the  Treaty  of  Gulistan,  the  Russian  and  Persian  gov- 
ernments were  perpetually  quarrelling  on  the  subject  of  the 
frontiers  and  the  vassal  tribes.  The  Shah  continued  to  receive 
tribute  from  the  khans  of  Karabagh  and  Gandja,  but  in  his  turn 
complained  of  the  encroachments  of  Russia,  and  of  the  arro- 
gance of  Ermolof,  Governor-General  of  the  Caucasus.  Soon  the 
Russians  learnt  that  the  Mollahs  were  preaching  on  all  sides  a 
holy  war,  that  English  officers  had  entered  the  service  of  the 
Shah,  and  that  Abbas-Mirza,  Prince  Royal  of  Persia,  was  ready 
to  cross  the  Araxes  at  the  head  of  35,000  men,  and  to  raise  the 
tributary  khanates.  Nicholas  at  once  despatched  General 
Paskievitch  to  join  Ermolof.  The  Prince  Royal  was  in  full 
march  on  Tiflis,  when  he  received  a  check  by  the  heroic  resist- 
ance, which  lasted  for  six  weeks,  of  the  fortress  of  Choucha. 
The  Russians  had  thus  time  to  concentrate  their  forces.  Near 
Elizabethpol  they  defeated  the  Persian  vanguard,  18,000  strong ; 
on  the  Dje'ham,  Paskievitch,  with  less  than  10,000  men,  dis- 
persed the  whole  royal  army,  44,000  strong,  and  obliged  the 
remnant  to  retreat  beyond  the  Araxes  (1826).  By  the  Treaty 
of  Teheran,  England  promised  Persia,  in  a  case  of  invasion, 
a  body  of  troops,   and  a  subsidy  of  five  millions.     Persia  was 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


233 


none  the  less  invaded.  PaskieVitch,  appointed  general-in-chief, 
forced  in  1827  the  defiles  and  the  passage  of  the  Araxes ; 
captured  10,000  of  the  Prince  Royal's  men;  took  Erivan,  the 
bulwark  of  Persia,  by  assault ;  entered  Tauris,  the  second 
city  of  the  kingdom,  in  triumph,  and  began  his  march  to  Teheran. 
The  king,  Fet-Aly-Shah,  in  alarm,  signed  the  Peace  of  Tourk- 
mantcha'i  (ioth-22nd  February,  1828)  ;  he  ceded  to  Russia  the 
provinces  of  Erivan,  and  Nakhitchevan,  paid  an  indemnity  of 
20,000,000  roubles,  and  promised  important  commercial  advant- 
ages to  Russian  subjects.  The  Araxes  became  the  frontier  of 
the  two  empires,  and  PaskieVitch  received  the  title  of  Erivanski. 
The  peace  was  all  but  broken  in  1829  by  the  massacre  of  the 
Russian  legation  at  Teheran,  in  which  the  poet  Griboiedof,  the 
Russian  minister,  perished.  Asia  was  always  fatal  to  the  Rus- 
sian poets.  Lermontof  was  to  die  a  tragic  death,  killed  in  a 
duel  in  the  Caucasus.  The  Court  of  Teheran  disavowed  the 
crime  of  the  people,  and,  although  Russia  was  then  occupied  in 
a  war  with  Turkey,  the  Prince  Royal  came  to  St.  Petersburg,  to 
offer  the  most  complete  satisfaction.  Persia  became  day  by  day 
more  subject  to  Russian  influence,  to  the  great  disgust  of 
England. 

With  regard  to  Turkey,  Nicholas  had  taken  up  a  more 
decided  attitude  than  Alexander.  The  enemy  of  revolutions 
sympathized  with  the  regeneration  of  Greece.  He  made  two 
demands  of  the  Sultan  :  in  concert  with  the  other  Powers,  he 
insisted  that  an  end  should  be  put  to  the  extermination  of  the 
Greeks,  and  in  his  own  name  he  asked  for  satisfaction  for  the 
bloody  outrages  inflicted  on  the  orthodox  Christians  since  the 
massacre  of  Constantinople,  and  for  the  insults  offered  to  his 
ambassador.  On  one  side  he,  like  the  rest  of  Europe,  invoked 
the  rights  of  humanity  ;  on  the  other,  he  vindicated  bis  privileges 
as  protector  of  the  members  of  the  orthodox  Church,  guaranteed 
by  the  treaties  of  Kairnadji  and  Bucharest.  Sometimes  he 
acted  in  unison  with  Europe,  sometimes  he  stood  apart  from 
her,  in  order  to  act  separately  and  more  energetically. 

In  March  1826,  Nicholas  had  presented  his  ultimatum  to 
the  Divan.  His  conditions  were — 1.  The  evacuation  of  the 
Danubian  principalities  (occupied  by  the  Turks,  under  the  pre- 
text of  the  insurrection  of  182 1)  and  the  re-establishment  of 
affairs  on  the  basis  of  treaties.  2.  The  execution  of  the  clauses 
of  the  Treaty  of  Bucharest,  relative  to  the  autonomy  of  Servia, 
and  the  liberation  of  the  Servian  deputies  who  were  detained  in 
Constantinople.  3.  Satisfaction  on  the  debated  points,  and 
the  despatch  of  an  Ottoman  plenipotentiary.  The  Porte  tried 
to  resist,  but  the  European  Powers  persuaded  her  to  yield.     On 


234 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


the  26th  of  September  (8th  of  October)  the  Convention  of  Akken 
man  was  concluded  on  the  following  conditions: — 1.  The  con- 
firmation of  the  Treaty  of  Bucharest.  2.  The  autonomy  of 
Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  under  a  hospodar  elected  for  seven 
years  in  an  assembly  of  nobles,  and  who  could  only  be  deposed 
with  the  consent  of  Russia.  3.  The  final  cession  to  Russia  of 
the  disputed  territories  on  the  Asiatic  frontier.  4.  Seven  years' 
delay  to  enable  the  Porte  to  organize  Servia  in  accordance  with 
the  Treaty  of  Bucharest.  5.  Fair  satisfaction  to  the  Russian 
subjects  who  were  creditors  of  the  Turkish  Government.  6. 
Free  passage  for  Russian  vessels  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the 
Mediterranean. 

The  Greek  question  still  remained.  The  Duke  of  Wellington 
and  Count  Nesselrode  had  come  to  an  agreement  in  the  St. 
Petersburg  conferences.  The  Anglo-Russian  protocol  of  the 
26th  of  March,  1826,  energetically  supported  by  the  French 
ambassador,  was  presented  to  the  Porte  by  the  representatives 
of  the  three  Powers.  Greece  was  to  be  an  autonomous  depen- 
dency of  Turkey,  was  to  pay  an  annual  tribute  to  the  Sultan,  to 
be  governed  by  authorities  elected  by  herself,  but  over  the  nom- 
ination of  whom  the  Porte  was  to  exercise  a  certain  influence. 
The  Turks  settled  in  Greece  were  to  emigrate,  and  to  receive 
an  equivalent  for  their  fixtures.  The  Divan  rejected  these  pro- 
positions as  "  violating  the  passive  obedience  owed  by  subjects 
to  their  legitimate  sovereign."  France,  England,  and  Russia 
then  signed  the  Treaty  of  London  (June  1827),  in  virtue  of 
which  they  imposed  their  mediation  on  the  belligerents,  Turkey 
and  Greece.  The  Porte,  when  informed  of  this,  replied  by  dis- 
embarking a  Turco- Egyptian  army  in  the  Morea,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Ibrahim.  The  three  Western  squadrons,  commanded 
by  Admirals  de  Rigny,  Heiden,  and  Codrington,  received  orders 
to  hinder,  even  by  force  the  prolongation  of  hostilities  in  the 
Peninsula.  The  Turkish  fleet  was  then  annihilated  in  the  battle 
of  Navarino  (20th  of  October,  1827).  Nicholas  addressed  flat- 
tering letters  to  the  French  and  English  admirals,  with  the  Order 
of  St.  Alexander  Nevski  for  M.  de  Rigny,  and  that  of  St.  George 
for  Codrington. 

The  disaster  of  Navarino  only  exasperated  Sultan  Mahmoud. 
He  sent  the  three  Powers  a  note  in  which  he  demanded  that 
prior  to  any  negotiation  he  should  receive  a  formal  declaration 
that  they  would  renounce  all  interference  in  the  affairs  of  Turkey 
and  Greece,  make  public  and  solemn  reparation  for  the  insult 
offered  to  the  Ottoman  flag,  and  pay  an  indemnity  to  the  Porte 
for  the  injuries  which  it  had  suffered.  In  the  mosques  a  holy 
war  was  proclaimed,  and  a  general  levy.     At  Constantinople, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


235 


such  a  phantom  of  a  national  representation  as  we  have  again 
seen  recently,  was  convoked. 

England  already  regretted  the  destruction  of  the  Tuikish 
fleet,  but  France,  in  order  to  give  the  force  of  law  to  the  de- 
cisions of  the  Powers,  disembarked  a  body  of  troops  in  the 
Morea  under  General  Maison,  who  expelled  the  Turco- Egyptians 
from  the  Peninsula.  Nicholas,  joining  his  private  grievances  to 
the  claims  of  Europe,  declared  war  on  Turkey,  and  ordered 
Field-Marshal  Wittgenstein  to  cross  the  Pruth,  while  Paskievitch 
entered  Asia  Minor.  In  Europe  the  Russians  occupied  Wal- 
lachia  and  Moldavia,  passed  the  Danube  under  the  eyes  of  their 
Emperor,  and  took  Brailof  and  Varna.  In  Asia  they  carried  by 
assault  the  ancient  fortress  of  Kars,  defeated  the  Turks  under 
Akhaltsykh,  and  captured  the  town  after  a  bloody  action. 

England  began  to  be  uneasy,  and  Austria  made  advances  to 
her.  Charles  X.  openly  said,  "  If  the  Emperor  Nicholas  attacks 
Austria,  I  will  hold  myself  in  reserve,  and  regulate  my  conduct 
according  to  circumstances ;  but  if  Austria  attacks,  I  will  in- 
stantly march  against  her."  The  Restoration  hoped  to  find  in 
the  struggle  in  the  East  a  revenge  for  the  treaties  of  1815.  The 
"  reunion  "  to  France  of  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  or  of 
Belgium  was  discussed  in  the  king's  council  in  September  1829  ; 
and  the  co-operation  of  Russia  was  counted  on,  in  exchange  for 
the  aid  France  was  giving  her  on  the  Danube.  In  a  word, 
according  to  the  expression  of  M.  Nettement,  the  two  Powers 
were  then  closely  united,  "  France  against  the  European  statu 
quo,  Russia  against  the  Oriental  statu  quo." 

Nicholas  was  therefore  free  for  the  campaign  of  1829.  In 
Asia,  Paskievitch  defeated  two  Turkish  armies  and  captured 
Erzeroum  ;  in  Europe,  Diebitch,  successor  to  Wittgenstein, 
defeated  the  Grand  Vizier  at  Koulevtcha,  near  Pravady,  and 
threw  him  back  in  disorder  on  the  fortified  camp  of  Shumla, 
after  having  killed  5000  men  and  taken  forty-three  guns.  After 
the  capitulation  of  Silistria,  he  blockaded  Shumla,  boldly  crossed 
the  Balkans,  and  entered  Adrianople,  the  second  city  of  the 
Ottoman  empire.  At  sea  the  frigate  Mercury  fought  two  Turkish 
ships  ;  her  crew  had  sworn  either  to  conquer  or  to  blow  them- 
selves up. 

At  last  the  Porte  yielded.  Mahmoud  had  destroyed  the 
Janissaries,  and  had  not  yet  constituted  a  regular  army.  Persia 
refused  to  undertake  a  new  war  against  Russia.  At  Adrianople 
the  Porte  concluded  two  treaties — one  with  the  European  Powers, 
and  the  other  with  Russia.  In  the  first,  she  agreed  to  adhere 
to  the  treaty  of  1817,  and  recognized  the  independence  of  Greece. 
By  the  second  she  surrendered  to  Russia  the  isles  of  the  Danu« 


j36  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

bian  delta  in  Europe,  and  the  fortresses  and  districts  of  Anapa, 
Poti,  Akhaltsykh,  and  Akhalkalaki,  in  Asia ;  she  paid  an  in- 
demnity of  119  million  francs,*  and  another  of  1,500,000  ducats 
to  the  Russian  merchants.  The  immunities  formerly  granted  to 
Moldavia,  Wallachia,  and  Servia  were  guaranteed,  and  the  Bos- 
phorus  and  Dardanelles  declared  free  and  opened  to  all  the 
Powers  at  peace  with  the  Porte.  Russian  commerce  had  access 
to  the  Black  Sea.  Thus  this  first  alliance  with  France  had 
secured  the  independence  of  Greece,  and  prepared  for  that  of 
the  Roumanians  and  Servians. 

From  1840  to  1841  England  was  occupied  with  the  famous 
opium  war  in  China.  The  Russians  had  previously  obtained, 
with  less  trouble,  a  much  more  advantageous  footing  in  the 
Celestial  Empire.  By  the  treaty  of  1827  they  bad  acquired  the 
right  to  establish  at  Pekin  a  place  of  education,  where  young 
men  might  study  the  language  and  customs  of  China.  Nicholas 
had  carefully  avoided  clashing  with  the  Court  of  Pekin  on  the 
subject  of  opium  ;  and  when  he  heard  of  the  prohibition,  he  for- 
bade his  subjects  to  introduce  this  commodity  across  the  Russian 
frontier.  In  1852  a  new  commercial  treaty  was  made,  which 
opened  a  market  on  the  Irtych.  This  Western  market,  so  called 
In  opposition  to  the  Eastern  market  of  Kiakhta,  afforded  the 
Russian  agents  an  opportunity  of  more  closely  surveying  Bok- 
hara. In  spite  of  these  cordial  relations,  the  Russian  outposts 
daily  and  noiselessly  encroached  on  the  Chinese  territory ;  and 
in  1854  European  was*  astonished  to  find  them  established  on  the 
Amour.  Thus,  from  one  end  of  Asia  to  the  other,  Russia  and 
England  found  themselves  face  to  face.  In  their  attempts  to 
push  back  their  frontiers  and  to  extend  their  influence,  both 
hastened  the  inevitable  moment  when  they  would  be  in  direct 
conflict. 

By  the  acquisition  of  Mingrelia,  Imeritia,  and  Georgia,  the 
Chirvan,  and  the  Persian  and'  Turkish  provinces,  Russia  had 
possession  of  the  whole  southern  slope  of  the  Caucasus  :  by  the 
acquisition  of  Daghestan  she  had  set  her  foot  on  the  northern 
side,  and  thus  completely  surrounded  the  vast  mountainous 
regions  which  constitute  Circassia  and  Abkhasia.  Numerous 
forts  occupied  the  openings  of  the  valleys.  The  warlike  Tcher- 
kesses  and  Abkhasians,  however,  bravely  defended  their  inde- 
pendence. The  road  from  Anapa  to  Poti  was  very  unsafe, 
notwithstanding  the  number  of  fortified  posts.  Nicholas  was 
sensible  of  the  necessity  of  securing  communications  with  Southern 
Asia  by  both  extremities  of  the  Caucasus  and  by  intermediate 

*  j£4,76o>o°o. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


237 


passes,  and  of  making  this  enormous  chain  the  impregnable 
citadel  from  the  height  of  which  he  was  to  rule  the  East.  This 
war  with  the  mountain  tribes,  fertile  in  surprises  and  ambuscades, 
was  a  mingled  success  and  failure.  It  took  a  more  formidable 
development  when  Moslem  fanaticism,  awakened  by  the  sectarian 
professors  of  Mirditism,  embodied  itself  in  Schamyl,  the  soldier 
priest,  who  gave  to  these  rival  races  religious  unity,  and  who  for 
twenty-five  years  held  the  best  Russian  generals  in  check.  In 
1844,  200,000  men  were  posted  in  the  Caucasus  under  the  brave 
and  able  Voronzof.  The  English  furtively  favored  the  insurrec- 
tion, and  the  seizure,  in  1837,  of  the  British  schooner  Vixen,  as 
she  was  unloading  arms  on  the  coast  of  Abkhasia,  made  some 
noise.  Bell,  an  Englishman,  was  found  at  the  head  of  the 
Georgians  in  their  short  revolt. 

Persia,  where  Fet-Aly-Shah,  the  ally  of  Napoleon  1.,  flad 
been  succeeded  by  his  grandson  Mohammed,  was  completely 
under  Russian  influence.  In  1837  and  1838  Mohammed  laid 
seige  to  Herat,  which  commanded  one  of  the  routes  to  India. 
The  English  obliged  him  to  raise  the  siege  by  creating  a  diver- 
sion in  the  Persian  Gulf.  They  followed  up  this  by  another  in 
1856,  and  secured  the  Isle  of  Karrack  and  the  Port  of  Bushire. 
Three  years  after  the  siege  of  Herat  the  English  themselves 
failed  to  capture  Cabul. 

Nicholas,  in  search  of  an  opening  in  another  direction,  de- 
clared war  against  the  Khan  of  Khiva,  under  the  pretext  of  put- 
ting an  end  to  the  exactions  and  robberies  practised  against  the 
caravans.  In  1841  an  army  led  by  General  Perovski  crossed 
the  steppes  of  Turkestan  during  a  severe  winter,  but,  after  gain- 
ing some  advantages  over  the  nomad  tribes,  was  forced  to  fall 
back  on  the  Emba.  The  Russian  army  was  almost  entirely  de- 
stroyed by  fatigue  and  the  severity  of  the  climate.  The  in- 
timidated Khan,  however,  offered  satisfaction.  He  decreed  the 
penalty  of  death  against  any  Khivan  who  should  dare  to  attempt 
the  life  or  liberty  of  a  Russian  subject,  and  gave  back  415 
captives.  It  was  clear  that  a  serious  attempt  against  Khiva 
would  not  be  practicable  till  the  enormous  distance  of  200  leagues, 
which  separated  this  oasis  from  the  Russian  frontiers,  should 
be  diminished  by  the  establishment  of  a  line  of  posts,  by  the 
more  complete  subjection  of  the  Turkish  hordes,  and  by  the 
construction  of  a  fleet  on  the  Sea  of  Aral.  The  expedition  of 
1854  was  a  great  success  ;  the  Khan  then  became  a  kind  of 
vassal  of  the  Tzar,  closely  watched  by  the  Russian  resident. 


*38  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

THE  POLISH  INSURRECTION  (1831). 

Towards  1830  Russia  found  herself  in  a  singular  state  of  ufh 
easiness.  The  cholera  had  just  made  its  appearance  ;  fierce 
revolts  had  broken  out  at  Sebastopol,  Novgorod,  and  Stara'ia- 
Roussa.  The  Emperor  seemed  agitated  by  gloomy  presenti- 
ments. He  had  been  shocked  by  the  news  of  the  July  revolts 
tion,  which  had  expelled  his  ally,  Charles  X. ;  the  Belgian  and 
the  Italian  revolutions  followed  close  on  each  other.  The  tri- 
colored  flag,  the  flag  of  1799  and  181 2,  floating  over  the  French 
Consulate  at  Warsaw,  hastened  the  explosion  of  the  Polish 
Revolution. 

The  time  was  already  far  behind  when  Alexander,  while 
opening  the  Diet  of  18 18,  boasted  of  "  those  liberal  institutions 
which  had  never  ceased  to  be  the  object  of  his  solicitude,"  and 
which  allowed  him  to  show  to  Russia  herself  "  what  he  had  foi 
so  long  prepared  for  her."  The  time  was  far  away  when  he  con- 
gratulated the  Polish  deputies  on  having  rejected  the  proposed 
law  of  divorce,  and  proclaimed  "  that,  freely  elected,  they  must 
freely  vote." 

No  doubt  the  prosperity  of  the  kingdom  was  increasing. 
Commerce  and  industry  had  developed,  the  finances  were  in  a 
satisfactory  state,  and  from  the  remnant  of  the  Napoleonic  legions 
the  Grand  Duke  Constantine  had  formed  an  excellent  army  of 
60,000  men.  Unhappily  it  was  very  difficult  for  Alexander,  who 
had  become  more  and  more  autocratic  in  Russia,  to  accommodate 
himself  in  Poland  to  the  liberty  of  a  representative  government. 
The  Diet  of  1820  had  irritated  him  profoundly  by  its  attack  on 
the  ministers,  and  its  rejection  of  certain  projects  of  law.  He 
looked  on  these  ordinary  incidents  of  parliamentary  life  as  an 
attempt  to  undermine  his  authority.  He  lent  an  ear  to  the 
counsels  of  Karamsin  and  Araktchdef.  He  put  forth  an  "  ad- 
ditional act  of  the  constitution  "  which  suppressed  the  public 
sittings  of  the  Diet.  After  the  session  of  1822,  the  convocation 
of  the  Estates  was  adjourned  indefinitely.  The  liberty  of  the 
press  was  restrained,  and  the  police  became  more  vexatious. 
The  soldiers  complained  of  the  severity,  and  sometimes  of  the 
brutality,  of  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  who  was  full  of  good 
intentions,  who  loved  Poland,  and  had  given  proof  of  it  by  sac- 
rificing the  crown  of  Russia  for  a  Polish  lady,  but  who  could 
never  control  his  impetuous  and  eccentric  character.  The  officers 
who  had  served  under  Dombrovski,  Poniatovski,  and  Napoleon 
could  scarcely  reconcile  themselves  to  the  Muscovite  discipline. 
Ancient  jealousies  and  national  hate,  revived  by  the  events  of 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  239 

181 2,  were  on  the  point  of  breaking  out  between  the  two  peoples. 
Besides  the  Polish  malcontents  who  grumbled  at  the  violations 
of  the  Constitution  of  18 15,  and  were  enraged  at  the  Emperor 
for  not  having  restored  to  the  kingdom  the  palatinates  of  White 
Russia,  there  was  the  party  which  dreamed  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  3rd  of  May,  1791,  or  of  a  republic,  and  which  desired  to 
re-establish  Poland  in  her  ancient  independence,  and  within  her 
ancient  limits.  The  secret  associations  of  the  Templars  and 
the  Patriotic  Society  were  formed.  The  trial  of  the  Russian 
d/cembfistes  had  revealed  an  understanding  between  the  con- 
spirators of  the  two  nations. 

Constantine  had  made  another  mistake,  that  of  persuading 
the  Emperor  Nicholas  that  the  Polish  army  should  not  be  em- 
ployed against  the  Turks.  He  loved  this  army  after  his  own 
fashion,  and  his  saying  has  been  quoted,  "  I  detest  war  ;  it 
spoils  an  army."  Victories  gained  in  common  over  the  ancient 
enemy  of  the  two  peoples  might  have  created  a  bond  of  military 
fraternity  between  the  Russian  and  Polish  armies,  given  an  open- 
ing to  the  warlike  ardor  of  the  Polish  youth,  and  crowned  with 
glory  the  union  of  the  two  crowns.  Constantine's  unpopularity 
increased  in  consequence  of  this  error.  Nothing,  however,  was 
as  yet  imperilled.  When  the  Emperor  Nicholas  came  to  open 
the  Diet  of  May  1830  in  person,  his  presence  in  Warsaw  excited 
some  hopes.  In  spite  of  the  reserve  which  the  deputies  had 
imposed  on  themselves,  they  could  not  refrain  from  rejecting 
the  unhappy  scheme  of  the  law  of  divorce,  from  lodging  com- 
plaints against  the  ministers,  and  uttering  a  wish  for  the  reunion 
with  the  Lithuanian  provinces.  This  wish  could  not,  of  course, 
be  granted  by  Nicholas,  without  deeply  wounding  the  patriotism 
and  the  rights  of  Russia.  The  "  King  of  Poland  "  and  his  sub- 
jects separated  with  discontent  on  both  sides ;  the  secret  socie- 
ties were  more  active  in  their  conspiracies,  and  the  news  from 
Paris  found  all  the  elements  of  a  revolution  already  prepared. 

On  the  evening  of  the  i7th-29th  of  November  the  youths 
belonging  to  the  School  of  the  Standard-bearers  revolted  at  the 
command  of  the  Sub-Lieutenant  Wysocki.  They  demanded 
cartridges :  "  Cartridges,"  cried  Wysocki,  "  you  will  find  them 
in  the  boxes  of  the  Russians  !  Forward  !  "  Whilst  130  of  them 
surprised  the  barracks  of  the  Russian  cavalry,  a  handful  rushed 
to  the  palace  of  the  Belvedere,  where  the  Tzare'vitch  resided. 
Constantine  had  just  time  to  escape  ;  the  director  of  police  and 
other  officials  fell  beneath  the  blows  of  the  conspirators.  In  a 
few  moments  all  the  Polish  troops,  the  infantry,  a  battalion  of 
sappers,  the  horse  artillery,  and  a  regiment  of  grenadiers,  hast- 
ened to  the  arsenal,  seized  40,000    muskets,    and  distributed 

Vol.  2  R  24 


24° 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


arms  among  the  insurgent  people.  Five  Polish  generals,  accused 
of  treason  to  the  national  cause,  were  put  to  death.  The  brave 
General  Novicki,  victim  of  a  mistaken  identity,  suffered  the 
same  fate.  The  Grand  Duke,  seeing  the  insurrection  spread, 
decided  to  evacuate  the  town  and  retire  to  the  village  of  Wirzba  ; 
he  even  sent  back  to  Warsaw  the  Polish  regiment  of  mounted 
sharp-shooters  who  had  alone  remained  loyal. 

Prince  Lubeck  hastened  to  convoke  the  council  of  administra- 
tion, to  which  was  added  a  certain  number  of  influential  citizens. 
The  majority  of  this  council  considered  the  struggle  with  Russia 
an  act  of  madness,  and  entreated  the  people  to  "  end  all  their 
agitations  with  the  night,  which  had  covered  them  with  her 
mantle."  This  advice  was  not  listened  to  :  the  crowd  summoned 
other  men  to  the  head  of  affairs, — the  Princes  Czartoryski  and 
Ostrovski,  Malakhovski,  and  the  celebrated  professor  and  histo- 
rian Le'level.  The  students  were  organized  into  a  crack  re- 
giment ;  Leldvel  opened  a  patriotic  club,  and  published  a  daily 
paper ;  the  patriot  Chlopicki,  a  brave  officer  who  had  served 
with  distinction  under  Napoleon,  was  appointed  generalissimo, 
but  Chlopicki  saw  no  hope  for  Poland  save  in  a  prompt  recon- 
ciliation with  the  Emperor.  He  despatched  envoys  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, to  the  Grand  Duke's  head-quarters,  and  even  to  London 
and  Paris,  to  obtain  the  mediation  of  the  Western  Powers.  Two 
parties  were  concerned  in  this  movement — the  moderate  party, 
who  wished  to  mend  the  link  that  they  had  broken  with  the  legal 
government  by  soliciting,  at  the  most,  a  reform  of  the  constitu- 
tion and  the  annexation  of  the  Lithuanian  palatinates  ;  and  the 
party  of  the  democrats,  who  insisted  on  the  abdication  of  the 
Romanofs,  the  restoration  to  the  country  of  its  independence, 
and  the  recovery  by  arms  of  the  lost  provinces.  Nicholas  re- 
pelled all  efforts  to  treat  which  were  not  preceded  by  an  im- 
mediate and  unconditional  submission.  His  proclamation 
deprived  the  insurgents  of  all  hopes  "  of  obtaining  concessions 
as  the  price  of  their  crimes."  From  that  time  the  war  party  at 
Warsaw  triumphed  over  the  peace  party.  Chlopigki,  disgusted 
with  the  conduct  of  the  more  advanced  spirits,  had  resigned  the 
post  of  generalissimo.  He  finally  accepted  the  dictatorship, 
and  gave  himself  up,  without  any  hope  of  success,  to  organizing 
the  defence,  while  continuing  the  negotiations.  He  and  Leldvel 
were  particularly  uncongenial  :  the  latter  was  of  opinion  that  the 
Poles  ought  to  take  the  offensive,  throw  themselves  into  Lith- 
uania and  Volhynia,  arm  the  peasants,  and  raise  a  levy  en  masse  ; 
declaring  that  when  an  insurrection  did  not  spread  it  was  certain 
to  fail.  "  Well,  then,"  exclaimed  Chlopicki  impatiently,  "  make 
war  with  your  reapers  yourself,"  and  he  resigned  his  command  a 
second  time  for  a  subordinate  post. 


HIS  TOR  V  OF  RUSSIA.  2  4i 

The  Diet  now  assembled  and  appointed  Prince  Radzivill,  a 
weak  man,  without  military  talents,  generalissimo.  His  election 
was  hailed  by  cries  of  "  To  Lithuania  !  to  Lithuania  !  "  In  the 
session  of  the  i3th-25th  January,  Count  Ezerski,  one  of  the 
two  negotiators  sent  by  Chlopicki  to  St.  Petersburg,  gave  an 
account  of  their  interview  with  the  Emperor.  The  replies  of 
Nicholas  did  not  give  more  ground  for  hope  than  his  proclama- 
tion of  the  17th  of  December.  He  refused  to  parley  with  rebel 
subjects.  He  at  once  rejected  the  idea  of  despoiling  Russia  of 
the  Lithuanian  provinces  for  the  benefit  of  Poland.  He  consid- 
ered it  a  sacred  duty  to  stifle  the  insurrection  and  punish  the 
guilty,  adding  that  if  the  nation  took  up  arms  against  him  Po- 
land would  be  crushed  by  Polish  guns.  Then  the  Diet  pro- 
claimed the  Romanofs  to  have  forfeited  the  throne.  It  hoped 
by  this  step  to  engage  the  sympathy  of  the  Western  courts,  but 
in  reality  it  rendered  all  attempts  at  pacific  mediation  impossi- 
ble ;  the  Poles  having  abandoned  the  ground  of  the  treaties  of 
18 15,  the  only  ones  to  which  European  diplomacy  could  appeal. 
As  to  an  armed  intervention  in  the  presence  of  the  hostility  of 
the  German  Powers,  neither  England  nor  France  could  dream  of 
such  a  thing.  In  vain  the  population  of  Paris  made  energetic 
manifestations  of  its  sympathies,  in  vain  the  Chambers  resounded 
with  warlike  addresses ;  all  these  demonstrations  had  no  effect. 
Six  days  after  its  declaration  of  freedom,  the  Polish  government 
instituted  a  provisional  government  composed  of  five  members  : 
Adam  Czartoryski,  president ;  Barzikovski,  Niemoievski,  Mo 
razski,  and  Joachim  Lelevel,  who  represented  democratic  ten- 
dencies in  this  supreme  council. 

The  Tzarevitch  had  completely  evacuated  the  kingdom; 
Modlin  and  all  the  other  fortresses  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
rebels.  To  protect  Warsaw  on  the  east,  they  had  thrown  up  a 
formidable  work  to  cover  the  bridge  ;  the  Polish  forces  with  the 
new  levies  amounted  to  90,000  men,  well  provided  with  artillery. 
In  February,  183 1,  an  army  of  120,000  Russians,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Diebitch  Zabalkanski,  the  hero  of  the  Balkans,  en- 
tered Poland  in  a  severe  frost,  driving  back  the  Polish  detach- 
ments into  Warsaw.  The  insurgent  General  Dvernie'ki  gained 
an  advantage  at  the  skirmish  of  Stoczek.  A  two  days'  battle  at 
Grochov,  glorious  for  Poland  (19th  and  20th  February),  did  not 
hinder  the  Russians  from  approaching  Warsaw,  and  the  combats 
of  Bialolenska  and  of  the  wood  of  Praga  (24th  and  25th  of  Feb- 
ruary) brought  them  nearly  up  to  the  Praga  quarter.  Radzivill 
then  resigned  his  office,  and  was  succeeded  by  Skrzynecki.  The 
main  body  of  the  Russian  army  had  abandoned  the  bank  of  the 
Vistula,  with  the  exception  of  three  small  corps — that  of  Rosen 


X  42  /iJS  TOR  Y  OF  £  USSIA. 

at  Dembevilkie*,  that  of  Geismas  at  Waver,  and  a  third  unde? 
Praga-  The  Polish  general  attacked  them  suddenly,  and  de- 
feated Geismar  at  Waver  aud  Rosen  at  Dembevilkie'  and  Iganie', 
but  did  not  dare  to  push  his  advantages  further.  An  expedition 
directed  against  Volhynia  by  Dvernicki  failed  completely ;  he 
was  driven  back  into  Gallicia. 

The  Lithuanian  expedition  ended  in  a  disaster  under  Wilna ; 
the  Poles  had  to  cross  the  Prussian  frontier,  and  only  one  divis- 
ion, that  of  Dembinski,  re-entered  Warsaw.  In  the  interval, 
Skrzynecki  having  attacked  the  right  wing  of  the  Russians  at 
Ostrolenka  on  the  Narev,  was,  after  a  severe  fight  forced  back 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river  (26th  of  May).  Cholera  raged  in 
both  armies,  and  carried  off  successively  Die'bitch  and  the  Grand 
Duke  Constantine. 

Political  divisions  now  as  always  ruined  Poland.  After  some 
violent  scenes,  Skrzynegki  was  replaced  by  Dembinski,  and  then 
by  Malekhovski.  Two  days'  revolt  made  the  streets  run  with 
blood,  and  the  people  committed  massacres  in  the  prisons.  The 
moderate  party  took  flight,  and  Czartoryski  fled  in  disguise. 
The  provisional  government  resigned  its  power  into  the  hands  of 
the  Diet,  who  invested  General  Krukoviegki  with  the  office  of 
dictator.  He  had  some  of  the  mutineers  executed,  but  was  not 
able  to  re-establish  order. 

Paskievitch  Erivanski,  Diebitch's  successor,  strengthened  by 
the  benevolent  help  of  Prussia,  which  had  thrown  open  to  him 
her  arsenals  and  magazines  of  Dantzig  and  Konigsberg,  had 
crossed  the  Vistula  below  Warsaw,  and  transported  the  theatre 
of  war  to  the  left  bank.  He  intended  to  attack  the  capital,  not 
from  the  side  of  Praga,  as  Souvorof  had  done,  but  from  the  side 
of  Vola  and  the  Czyste  quarter.  Two  semicircles  of  concentric 
intrenchments  corresponded  to  these  two  quarters,  but  the  Rus- 
sians had  no  longer,  as  on  the  side  of  Praga,  to  overcome  the 
obstacle  of  the  Vistula.  On  the  6th  of  September  the  Russians 
attacked  Vola,  where  General  Sovinski,  who  had  lost  a  leg  at 
the  Moskowa,  and  Wysocki,  who  began  the  revolution  were 
killed.  The  same  day  PaskieVitch  began  to  cannonade  Czyste' 
and  the  town.  The  next  morning  Krukoviecki  asked  to  capitu- 
late. Paskievitch  exacted  the  unconditional  submission  of  the 
army  and  the  people,  the  immediate  surrender  of  Warsaw,  the 
reconstruction  of  the  bridge  of  Praga,  and  the  retreat  of  the 
troops  on  Plock.  The  Diet  having  allowed  the  time  fixed  for  a 
reply  to  pass,  Paskievitch  began  the  attack.  Krukovie'gki  had 
accepted  his  terms,  but  he  had  been  replaced  in  the  interval  by 
Niemoievski.  Czyste'  was  already  in  flames,  and  the  Russians 
were  scaling  the  ramparts,  when  the  Poles  capitulated.     "  Sire, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


243 


Warsaw  is  at  your  feet,"  wrote  PaskieVitch  to  the  Emperor. 
"  Order  reigns  at  Warsaw,"  such  was  the  funeral  oration  pro- 
nounced by  official  Europe  over  the  insurrection.  Twenty  thoi»* 
sand  soldiers  laid  down  their  arms  at  Plock,  15,000  of  whom 
Ramorino  took  into  Gallicia. 

Not  only  Warsaw,  but  Poland  herself,  lay  at  the  feet  of  Nich- 
olas. Partial  insurrections  and  new  plots  were  later  to  revive 
his  resentment.  At  present  he  was  happy  at  being  able  to  make 
an  example,  and  intimidate  the  European  revolution.  Seques- 
trations, confiscations,  imprisonments,  and  banishments  to  Sibe- 
ria served  as  commentaries  on  the  amnesty.  The  constitution 
granted  by  Alexander  was  annulled;  the  public  offices  were 
abolished  and  replaced  by  mere  commissions  emanating  from 
the  public  offices  of  Russia  ;  the  directors  of  these  commissions 
formed,  under  the  management  of  the  namiestnik,  the  council  of 
government.  No  more  diets ;  Poland  was  administered  by  the 
officials  of  the  Tzar.  No  more  Polish  army ;  it  was  lost  in  the 
imperial  army.  The  national  orders  were  only  preserved  as  Rus- 
sian orders,  distributed  among  the  most  zealous  servants  of  the 
government.  The  Russian  systems  of  taxes,  justice,  and  coin- 
age were  successively  introduced  into  the  kingdom.  The  an- 
cient historical  palatinates  gave  way  to  Russian  provinces  ;  the 
ancient  divisions  were  modified.  These  governments  amounted 
to  five  after  1844 :  Warsaw,  Radom,  Lublin,  Plock,  and  Modlin. 
Thus  were  matters  ordered  in  Poland  proper. 

In  Lithuania  and  White  Russia,  the  Polish  element  was  more 
narrowly  watched :  the  germs  of  nationality  left  by  the  educa- 
tional policy  of  Czartoryski  were  stifled.  In  reply  to  the  Lithu- 
anian insurrection,  the  University  of  Wilna  was  suppressed,  and 
the  Polish  language  banished  from  the  schools.  In  order  to 
attach  the  south-west  provinces  more  closely  to  Russia,  Nicho- 
las, supported  by  Bishop  Joseph  Siemaszko,  abolished  the  Union* 
The  Uniate  bishops  and  clergy  signed  the  act  of  Polotsk,  by 
which  they  entreated  to  be  admitted  into  the  bosom  of  the  na- 
tional orthodox  Church — a  request  that  the  Holy  Synod  hastened 
to  gratify  (1839).  Part  of  the  monks  and  the  faithful  resisted. 
Sie'maszko,  now  made  Metropolitan  as  the  reward  of  his  ser- 
vices, organized  missions  in  which  an  amount  of  violence  and 
zeal  was  used  to  destroy  the  Union,  equal  to  that  which  the 
Jesuit  party  of  the  17th  century  had  employed  to  cement  it. 
The  affair  of  the  nuns  of  Minsk  made  a  special  scandaL  The 
orthodox  peasants  profited,  however,  by  this  revolution.  In 
order  to  protect  them  against  the  ill-will  of  their  masters  who 
had  remained  Catholics  or  Uniates,  the  authorities  of  White 
Russia  and  Lithuania  were  desired  to  make  "  inventories  "  whiok 


244 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  RUSSTA. 


would  exactly  determine  the  amount  of  their  rents  and  the  sum 
of  their  dues.  The  "  inventories  "  put  an  end  to  the  despotism 
of  the  nobles :  this  was  the  beginning  of  emancipation. 


ILL-FEELING   AGAINST   FRANCE  :     THE    EASTERN    QUESTION  ;     REVO 
LUTION   OF    1848  ;    INTERVENTION    IN    HUNGARY. 

The  Polish  insurrection  had  resulted,  as  to  general  policy,  in 
a  more  intimate  union  between  the  three  Powers  of  the  North, 
which  bound  themselves  by  a  treaty  to  deliver  up  each  other's 
rebel  subjects  ;  and  in  a  kind  of  rupture  between  Russia  and  the 
Western  Powers,  most  of  which  had  given  evidence  of  their 
sympathy  for  the  Polish  cause.  Nicholas  L,  the  chief  represen- 
tative of  European  conservatism,  looked  on  France  as  the  hot- 
bed of  perpetual  revolutions.  He  wished  the  world  to  be  im- 
movable ;  now  Paris  periodically  shook  the  soil  of  Europe  with 
her  "  days."  The  Revolution  of  1830  had  overthrown  his  ally 
Charles  X.,  caused  Belgium  and  Central  Italy  to  revolt,  and  the 
insurrection  of  Poland  was  a  consequence  of  it.  The  sympathies 
of  the  French  for  Poland  were  strongly  manifested  ;  there  had 
been  some  riots  at  Paris,  and  windows  were  broken  at  the 
Russian  embassy.  Fourteen  addresses  were  successively  pre- 
sented in  the  Chambers  at  each  new  session  ;  the  proscribed 
Poles  nowhere  received  a  warmer  welcome,  and  Polish  schools 
were  provided  for  their  children.  Under  the  French  protection 
the  European  revolution  and  the  Polish  emigration  had  become 
close  allies.  In  Hungary,  in  Turkey,  in  the  Caucasus,  Nicho- 
las was  everywhere  to  find  these  guests  of  France,  these  exiles. 
He  had  not  waited  for  these  acts  of  hostility  to  declare  himself 
against  the  French.  His  relations  with  Louis  Philippe,  the 
July  king,  were  a  long  series  of  frets,  of  annoyances,  of  scarcely 
disguised  insults.  In  his  reply  to  the  notification  of  the  acces- 
sion of  the  new  sovereign,  he  had  designated  the  revolution 
which  had  given  Louis  Philippe  his  crown  as  an  "  event  for 
ever  to  be  deplored."  He  affected  a  polite  impertinence  tow- 
ards the  representatives  of  France,  or  gave  them  to  understand 
that  the  respect  he  paid  them  was  a  tribute  merely  to  their  per- 
sonal merit,  and  not  to  their  diplomatic  quality.  MM.  de  Bour- 
going,  de  Barante,  Marshal  Maison,  and  Casimir  PeVier  the 
younger,  were  placed  one  after  another  in  this  false  position. 

The  ill-will  of  Nicholas  was  shown  by  acts  of  a  graver  kind 
=— by  threatening  manifestations  and  displays  of  military  iorce, 
by  meetings  of  sovereigns,  which  seemed  ominous  of  the  recon- 
stitution  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  by  attempts  at  coalition,  and  even 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


245 


by  flagrant  violations  of  treaties.  Nicholas  was  one  day  to  ex« 
piate  cruelly  the  dangerous  satisfaction  to  his  pride  which  he 
derived  from  these  vain  provocations  to  France  and  the  new 
ideas.  This  situation  of  king  of  kings,  of  head  of  the  monarch- 
ical governments,  of  arbiter  of  Europe,  which  he  was  allowed 
to  hold  by  the  complaisance  of  Austria  and  Prussia,  was  more 
apparent  than  real,  and  had  more  prestige  than  force.  Once 
more  the  so-called  policy  of  principles  was  to  bring  misfortune 
to  Russia. 

When  in  December,  1832,  the  Egyptian  army  under  Ibrahim, 
victorious  at  Bei'lan  and  Konieh,  seemed  to  threaten  Constanti- 
nople, Turkey  appealed  to  the  European  Powers.  Russia  was 
the  first  to  reply  by  sending  her  fleet  to  the  Bosphorus,  by  dis- 
embarking 10,000  men  On  the  coast  of  Asia,  and  causing  24,000 
men  to  advance  to  the  Pruth.  France  and  England  protested 
through  Admiral  Ronsin  and  Lord  Ponsonby,  and  obtained  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Russian  forces,  the  retreat  of  the  Egyptian 
army,  and  the  treaty  of  Kutaieh  between  the  Sultan  and  the 
Khedive.  All  seemed  to  have  ended  quietly,  when  a  rumor 
spread  that  Count  Orlof  had  signed  with  the  Porte  the  Treaty 
of  Unkiar-Skelessi,  which,  under  the  appearance  of  an  offensive 
and  defensive  alliance,  established  the  dependence  of  Turkey 
on  Russia  (8th  of  June,  1833).  Each  of  the  two  contracting 
parties  engaged  to  furnish  to  the  other  the  aid  necessary  "  to 
secure  the  tranquillity  of  its  States."  This  latter  article  might, 
in  such  a  distracted  country  as  Turkey,  involve  a  permanent  oc- 
cupation by  the  Russian  forces.  By  a  secret  article  the  Sultan 
undertook,  if  the  Tzar  were  attacked,  to  close  the  Dardanelles, 
and  to  permit  no  foreign  ships  to  pass  through  them,  on  any 
pretext  whatever.  England  and  France  protested  loudly.  This 
treaty,  however,  was  never  executed. 

When  the  war  between  Egypt  and  Turkey  re-commenced, 
and  Sultan  Mahmoud  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Abdul-Medjid 
(1839),  Nicholas  took  advantage  of  the  lively  sympathy  shown 
by  France  for  the  Viceroy  to  isolate  her  completely  from  the 
other  Powers.  England,  always  anxious  to  maintain  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Ottoman  empire,  separated  herself  from  France  to 
join  the  Russians,  and  associated  herself  with  the  conspiracy, 
whose  aim  was  to  exclude  the  French  from  the  assembly  of 
European  Powers.  The  Tzar  saw  with  satisfaction  the  affront 
offered  to  France  by  the  Treaty  of  London  (15th  of  July,  1840), 
concluded  between  Great  Britain,  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia; 
the  irritation  caused  at  Paris  by  the  intervention  of  the  English, 
Austrians,  and  Turks  in  Syria ;  the  embarrassment  into  which 
the  French  were  thrown  by  the  warlike  policy  of  Thiers'  cabinet 


2  46  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  ffSSIA. 

and  the  imminence  of  a  conflict,  where  for  such  a  poor  stake 
they  would  have  a  general  coalition  of  the  great  Powers 
against  them.  England,  which  had  forsaken  France  to  defend 
Turkey  against  Egypt,  soon  felt  the  necessity  of  returning  to  her, 
to  guarantee  Constantinople  against  the  Russian  protectorate. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  "  Convention  of  the  Straits  "  (13th  of 
July,  1841)  France  regained  her  European  position.  Nicho- 
las had  played  the  singular  part  of  protector  of  the  Ottoman 
integrity  ;  he  had  allied  himself  with  the  enemy  and  his  natu- 
ral rival,  England  ;  but  at  the  price  of  these  inconsistencies 
he  had  given  himself  the  pleasure  of  humiliating  the  govern- 
ment of  Louis  Philippe,  and  of  exposing  him  to  the  dangers 
of  a  general  war. 

During  all  this  period  he  had  redoubled  his  ill  offices  towards 
France.  In  1833  he  had  convoked  the  Congress  of  Munchen- 
gratz,  where  the  sovereigns  of  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  and 
their  principal  ministers,  assembled.  In  1835,  at  the  manoeuvres 
of  Kalisch,  he  had  reviewed  an  army  of  90,000  men,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  King  of  Prussia,  the  Austrian  archdukes,  and  a 
multitude  of  princes.  On  the  death  of  Charles  X.  he  ordered 
a  court  mourning  of  twenty-four  days. 

In  1846  troubles  broke  out  in  Austrian  Gallicia.  The  upper 
classes  had  made  great  preparations  for  a  rising  against  Austria, 
and  the  peasants  in  their  turn  revolted  against  their  lords.  The 
free  city  of  Cracow  had  given  an  asylum  to  the  refugees,  and  had 
allowed  a  provisional  Polish  government  to  be  installed  there, 
which  attempted  to  reconcile  the  peasants  and  their  masters  by 
promising  to  the  former  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  the  division 
of  all  national  property.  Nicholas,  in  his  character  of  queller 
of  revolutions,  found  work  here.  His  troops  were  the  first  to 
enter  Cracow,  where  they  were  followed  by  those  of  Austria  and 
Prussia.  The  sovereigns  declared  the  republic  of  Cracow  to  be 
suppressed,  and  the  town  itself  to  be  annexed  to  Austria. 
France  and  England  could  only  protest  against  this  violation  of 
the  treaties  of  1815. 

The  Revolution  of  1848  shook  Europe  with  a  violence  which 
had  been  hitherto  unfelt.  Not  only  all  Italy  and  Western  Ger- 
many followed  the  movement,  but  the  countries  which  till  now 
had  seemed  opposed  to  the  new  ideas,  and  which  had  been  the 
bulwark  of  monarchic  Europe  against  the  revolutionary  spirit, 
caught  the  infection,  and  the  excitement  spread  even  to  the 
frontiers  of  Russia.  The  German  constitution  was  overthrown  ; 
the  Germans  called  a  parliament  at  Frankfort  ;  the  Slavs  called 
the  Congress  of  Prague.  The  Emperor  Ferdinand  was  expelled 
from    Vienna :    at  Berlin,    Frederic    William  IV.  saluted   the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


247 


corpses  which  were  displayed  by  the  revolutionists ;  Hungary 
rose  at  the  voice  of  Kossuth  ;  even  the  Danubian  principalities, 
influenced  by  the  party  of  Roumanian  unity,  dethroned  the  Hos- 
podar  Bibesco  in  Wallachia,  and  the  Hospodar  Stourdza  in 
Moldavia.  Where  would  the  movement  stop  ?  Plots  were  dis- 
covered in  Russia  ;  Poland,  whose  flags  the  Parisian  workmen 
waved  in  their  tumultuous  processions,  quivered  with  eagerness. 

The  Emperor  Nicholas  planted  himself  in  >-he  face  of  revolu- 
tionary Europe.  He  first  acted  in  the  countries  nearest  to  him ; 
he  used  his  influence  with  the  King  of  Prussia  t  prevent  him 
from  accepting  the  imperial  crown  of  Germany ;  he  protested 
against  the  events  in  Bucharest,  and  sent  an  army  to  the  princi- 
palities ;  he  seized  the  moment  when  the  Hungarian  insurrection 
had  received  a  shock  from  the  counter  Croat  insurrection,  to 
respond  to  the  appeal  of  the  young  Emperor  Francis  Joseph.  In 
Hungary  too,  the  Russian  regiments  were  to  encounter  their  old 
enemies  of  1799,  1812,  and  1831 — the  irreconcilable  Polish 
legions,  re-organized  under  Ben  and  Dembinski.  Paskievitch 
was  charged  to  complete  in  the  plains  of  Hungary  his  victory  over 
Poland.  He  defeated  the  Polish-Hungarian  army  at  many  points, 
occupied  all  Transylvania,  and  obliged  the  generalissimo  Georgey 
to  sign  the  capitulation  of  Villagos  in  the  open  country  (12th  of 
August,  1849).  "  Hungary  is  at  the  feet  of  your  Majesty," 
writes  Paskievitch.  Nicholas  put  it  under  the  feet  of  Francis 
Joseph,  who  treated  it  more  cruelly  than  Nicholas  had  treated 
Poland. 

The  Tzar's  intervention  in  the  Danish  question  had  more 
happy  results.  Nicholas  obliged  the  Prussians  to  withdraw  their 
troops  from  the  duchies,  and  their  support  from  the  revolted 
Holsteiners.  In  1852  he  joined  the  other  Powers  to  cause  the 
integrity  of  the  Danish  monarch  to  be  recognized  at  the  Treaty 
of  London  (8th  May). 

At  the  other  extremity  of  Europe  arose  a  man  who  seemed 
to  work  with  Nicholas  to  put  an  end  to  the  European  revolution. 
By  the  expedition  to  Rome,  he  extinguished  the  Italian  republic  ; 
by  the  December  coup  d'etat,  the  French  republic.  Nicholas, 
almost  reconciled  to  the  hated  name  of  Bonaparte,  and  to  the 
imminent  restoration  of  a  Napoleonic  empire,  remarked : 
"  France  has  set  an  evil  example ;  she  will  now  set  a  good 
one.  I  have  faith  in  the  conduct  of  Louis  Napoleon."  The 
Second  Empire  was  to  force  him  to  expiate  his  hostile  and 
politic  conduct  towards  the  July  monarchy  and  the  republic 
of  1848.  His  desire  for  the  coup  d'etat  was  realized  to  his 
own  hurt.  His  power  blazed  for  the  last  time  when,  on  the 
15th   of   May,    1852,   he    reviewed   the  Austrian  army  on   the 


2  48  HIS  TOR  V  OF  R  USSIA. 

slopes  of  Vienna,  and  pressed  to  his  heart  that  Austrian   sov- 
ereign "  whose  ingratitude  was  to  astonish  Europe." 


SECOND    TURKISH  WAR  ;   THE    ALLIES    IN   THE    CRIMEA — AWAKEN- 
ING OF  RUSSIAN  OPINION. 

Nicholas  was  irritated  to  see  his  influence  in  the  East  held  in 
check  by  France  and  Austria.  In  the  question  of  the  "  holy 
places,"  Fran-  \.  had  just  obtained  a  solution  favorable  to  the 
pretensions  of  the  Cath  lie  Powers.  "  The  Porte  authorized 
the  Latins  to  build  an  ambry  in  the  cave  of  Bethlehem."  After 
Omar  Pacha's  invasion  of  Montenegro,  it  was  the  Austrian  am- 
bassador who,  without  the  aid  of  Russia,  had  procured  the  re- 
treat of  the  Ottoman  troops.  Nicholas  affected  to  see  in  these 
two  decisions  o-  the  Porte  an  attempt  to  annul  the  right  of  pro- 
tectorate over  the  Eastern  Christians,  conferred  on  the  Russian 
sovereign  by  the  treaties  of  Ka'irnadji,  Bucharest,  and  Adrianople. 
Prince  Menchikof  was  sent  to  Constantinople  with  orders  to 
obtain  a  new  recognition  of  his  righ".,  and  guarantees  for  the 
future.  The  Porte,  reeling  herself  supported  by  France — on 
the  20th  of  March  a  i-rewch  fleet  'iad  appeared  in  the  Greek 
waters — refused ,  and  Menchikof,  after  having  uselessly  presented 
his  ultimatum,  abruptl}  broke  off  the  negotiations,  and  quitted 
Constantinople.  England  hesitated  to  take  part  in  a  quarrel  in 
which  she  saw  little  but  the  question  of  the  "  holy  places  "  and 
the  pretensions  of  France  :  but  on  the  9th  and  14th  of  January, 
1853,  two  private  interviews  between  Nicholas  and  the  English 
ambassador,  Sir  Hamilton  Seymour,  revealed  to  the  British 
minister  the  ultimate  aim  of  all  the  Emperor's  schemes.  Their 
aim  was  nothing  less  than  to  wind  up  the  bankrupt  estate  of  the 
"  sick  man."  Servia,  the  Principalities,  and  Bulgaria  were  to 
form  independent  States  under  the  protection  of  Nicholas.  As 
to  Constantinople,  if  circumstances  obliged  him  to  occupy  it,  he 
would  establish  himself  there  as  trustee  and  not  as  proprietor. 
England  should  in  her  turn  be  free  to  appropriate  territories  at 
her  convenience,  provided  she  did  not  stretch  out  her  hand  for 
Constantinople.  "  Now,"  he  said,  "  it  is  as  a  friend  and  a  gen- 
tleman that  I  speak  to  you  :  if  England  and  myself  can  come  to 
an  understanding  about  this  affair,  the  rest  matters  little  to  me, 
and  I  shall  care  very  little  as  to  what  the  others  may  think  or  do." 
He  insisted  on  this  latter  point.  "  If  we  are  only  agreed,  I  am 
completely  at  ease  about  the  West  of  Europe  ;  what  the  others 
may  think  at  the  bottom  of  their  heart  is  of  small  importance." 
These  "  others  "  were  first  France  and  then  Austria.     Nicholas 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


249 


flattered  himself  that  he  could  persuade  and  carry  away  the 
English  ;  but  it  did  not  enter  into  his  calculations  that  Napoleo- 
nic France  could  ever  form  an  alliance  with  the  England  of 
Waterloo,  of  St.  Helena,  and  of  Hudson  Lowe.  The  imprudent 
confidence  to  Seymour  rendered  the  strange  alliance  possible. 
England  took  fright,  and  it  was  now  her  turn  to  urge  France  to 
energetic  measures.  The  invasion  of  the  Principalities  appeared 
to  her  to  be  the  first  step  towards  the  execution  of  the  schemes  ol 
dismemberment. 

On  the  3rd  of  July,  1853,  the  Russian  troops  crossed  the 
Pruth,  under  the  command  of  General  Gortchakof.  Nicholas 
published  a  proclamation,  in  which  he  announced  that  he  did  not 
intend  to  begin  the  war,  but  that  he  wished  to  have  some  securities 
on  which  he  could  rely  for  the  Divan's  strict  execution  of  the 
treaties.  The  English  and  French  fleets  now  approached  the 
threatened  points,  and  took  up  a  position  in  Besika  Bay,  with- 
out crossing  the  Straits,  which  the  conditions  of  the  treaties  still 
kept  closed  to  ships  of  war.  Russia,  however,  declared  in  a 
circular  that  this  transaction  was  a  threat,  which  was  sure  to 
cause  new  complications. 

Austria  proposed  that  a  conference  should  assemble  at 
Vienna,  and  delegates  from  the  five  Powers  met  and  took  part 
in  it.  Prussia  had  made  advances  to  Austria.  At  this  moment 
peace  might  have  been  secured.  The  Tzar  was  disposed  to 
make  certain  concessions,  provided  his  right  to  the  protectorate 
was  recognized  ;  but  Turkey  took  the  initiative  in  war  by  sum- 
moning Russia  to  evacuate  the  Principalities.  The  Turks  dis- 
played more  energy  in  this  war  on  the  Danube  than  the  Rus- 
sians expected.  On  November  30,  1853,  the  destruction  of  the 
Turkish  fleet  at  Sinope  by  Admiral  Nakhimof  destroyed  all 
hopes  of  localizing  the  war.  The  French  and  English  fleets, 
which  at  the  beginning  of  hostilities  had  entered  the  Bosphorus, 
now  sailed  into  the  Black  Sea,  and  obliged  the  Russian  fleet  to 
withdraw  into  ports. 

On  the  26th  of  January,  1853,  Napoleon  III.  had  addressed 
an  autograph  letter  to  Nicholas  as  a  last  attempt  at  peace. 
Things,  however,  had  now  gone  too  far,  and  the  Tzar's  reply 
left  no  alternative  but  to  make  war.  Meanwhile,  England  had 
published  Seymour's  despatches  about  his  interview  with  Nich- 
olas, and  this  violation  of  the  secrecy  asked  by  the  Emperor, 
"  speaking  as  a  friend  and  a  gentleman,"  profoundly  irritated 
Russia.  The  consequences  of  these  revelations  were  very 
serious.  France,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  saw  how  completely 
Nicholas  intended  to  sacrifice  them,  and  were  stung  by  his  con- 
tempt for  all  that  "  the  others  "  might  think  or  do.     On  the  12th 


S  5  o  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  US  SI  A. 

of  March,  1854,  France  and  England  assured  Turkey  of  their 
support.  On  the  10th  of  April  an  offensive  and  defensive  treaty 
of  alliance  was  concluded.  On  the  20th,  Austria,  which  was 
making  a  threatening  concentration  of  troops  on  the  Danube, 
signed  with  Prussia  a  treaty  of  guarantee  and  a  treaty  of  alliance 
in  case  the  Tzar  attacked  Austria  or  crossed  the  Balkans. 
Nicholas  had  found  means  to  unite  the  whole  of  Europe  against 
him. 

The  immense  superiority  of  the  navy  of  the  allies  allowed 
them  to  attack  Russia  in  all  her  seas.  In  the  Black  Sea  they 
bombarded  the  military  port  of  Odessa  (22nd  of  April,  1854), 
while  respecting  the  town  and  the  commercial  port.  The  Rus. 
sian  settlements  on  the  coast  of  the  Caucasus — Anapa,  Redout* 
Kale,  and  Soukoum-Kale — had  been  burned  by  the  Russians 
themselves.  In  the  Baltic  the  allies  blockaded  Cronstadt,  dis- 
embarked on  the  Hes  of  Aland,  took  the  fortress  of  Bomarsund 
(16th  of  August  1854),  and  in  1855  bombarded  Sveaborg.  In 
the  White  Sea  they  attacked  the  fortified  monastery  of  Solovet- 
ski.  In  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk  they  blockaded  the  Siberian  ports, 
destroyed  the  arsenal  of  Petropavlovsk,  and  threatened  the 
position  of  the  Russians  on  the  river  Amour. 

The  Russians,  menaced  by  the  Austrian  concentration  on  the 
Danube,  by  the  disembarkation  of  the  French  and  English  (first 
at  Gallipoli  and  then  at  Varna),  made  a  last  effort  to  take  Silis- 
tria,  the  siege  of  which  (April  to  July)  had  already  cost  them 
many  men.  They  failed.  In  the  Dobrudscha,  an  expedition 
directed  by  the  French  had  no  military  results,  but  the  army  was 
decimated  by  the  cholera  and  fevers  from  the  marshes.  The 
Russians  decided  to  evacuate  the  Principalities,  which  were  then 
occupied  by  the  Austrians,  according  to  an  agreement  with 
Europe  and  the  Sultan.  The  war  on  the  Danube  was  ended  ; 
the  Crimean  war  had  begun  !  * 

It  had  been  finally  resolved  on  in  a  council  held  at  Varna  on 
the  21st  of  July  between  the  generals  of  the  French,  English, 
and  Turkish  armies.  On  the  14th  of  September,  500  ships 
landed  the  expeditionary  troops  near  Eupatoria  ;  on  the  20th, 
the  battle  of  the  Alma  opened  them  the  way  to  Sevastopol.  This 
was  a  thunderbolt  to  Russia.  Since  18 12  no  enemy  had  landed 
on  her  soil ;  the  Crimea,  protected  by  a  formidable  fleet,  im- 
pregnable fortresses,  and  a  numerous  army,  seemed  secure  from 
all  attacks.  Now  the  army  was  beaten,  and  the  Black  Sea  fleet, 
which  had  retreated  to  the  harbor  of  Sebas'opol,  only  served  to 
obstruct  the  channel.     Sebastopol  itself  was  so  badly  protected 

*  See  Camille  Rousset,  '  Histoire  de  la  Guerre  de  Crim6e,'  2  vols,  with 
an  atlas  :  and  M.  Rambaud's  '  Francais  tt  Russes,  Moscou  et  Sevastopol.' 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


*5» 


and  armed — at  least,  on  the  land  side — that  many  officers  still 
think  that  a  bold  march  of  the  allies  on  Sebastopol  would  have 
made  them  masters  of  the  town. 

When,  however,  the  first  moment's  surprise  had  passed,  the 
Russians  set  to  work.  In  a  few  days  they  repaired  years  of 
carelessness  or  official  peculation.  Townsfolk,  soldiers,  and 
sailors  labored  at  the  earthworks.  In  a  very  short  time,  thanks 
to  their  marvellous  activity,  the  stony  soil  of  the  Chersonesus 
Was  raised  in  redoubts,  and  in  ramparts  crowned  with  fascines. 
The  bastions  of  the  Centre,  of  the  Mast,  of  the  two  Redans,  and 
of  the  Malakof,  all  afterwards  so  celebrated,  bristled  with  guns 
taken  from  the  navy.  Fourteen  or  fifteen  thousand  sailors,  all 
eager  to  avenge  the  ruin  of  the  fleet,  came  to  reinforce  the  gar- 
rison. Admirals  Kornilof,  Istomine,  and  Nakhimof,  who  were 
all  three  to  die  on  the  bastion  of  the  Malakof,  directed  the  de- 
fence. The  allies  had  marched  on  the  port  of  Balaclava,  which 
they  had  captured.  They  then  took  up  a  position  on  the  south 
of  Sebastopol,  investing  at  the  same  time  both  the  town  and  the 
Karabelnai'a,  and  getting  supplies  by  the  ports  of  Kamiesch 
and  Balaclava.  On  the  northern  side,  the  beleaguered  place 
communicated  freely,  by  the  bridges  over  the  great  harbor,  with 
the  Russian  field-army,  and  could  continually  receive  reinforce- 
ments and  supplies.  It  was  less  a  city  besieged  by  an  army 
than  two  armies  intrenched  opposite  each  other  and  keeping  all 
their  communications.  Many  times  the  allies  were  interrupted 
in  their  labors  by  the  field-army  ;  and  they  had  to  give  battle  at 
Balaclava  (25th  October),  at  Inkermann  (5th  November),  and 
at  Eupatoria  (17th  February).  Whilst  the  allies  dug  trenches, 
bored  mines,  and  multiplied  their  batteries,  the  Russian  en- 
gineers, directed  by  Todleben,  strengthened  the  town  fortifica- 
tions, and  built  new  ones — Transbalkan,  Selinghinsk,  Volhyne, 
and  Kamschatka  (White  Works,  Green  Mamelon) — under  the 
enemy's  fire.  The  allies,  in  spite  of  the  hardships  of  a  severe 
winter,  established  themselves  more  and  more  firmly,  braving 
in  a  corner  of  the  Crimea  all  the  forces  of  the  empire  of  the 
Tzars. 

On  the  day  of  the  26th  of  December,  1825,  Nicholas  had 
been  consecrated,  in  the  blood  of  conspirators,  the  armed 
apostle  of  the  principle  of  authority,  the  exterminating  angel  of 
the  counter-revolution.  This  position  he  had  held  for  thirty 
years,  not  without  glory.  He  had  subdued  the  Polish,  Hun- 
garian, and  Roumanian  revolutions,  and  prevented  Prussia  from 
yielding  to  the  seductions  of  the  German  revolution  and  to  the 
appeals  of  disaffection  in  Holstein.  He  had,  if  not  humiliated, 
at  least  troubled  the  French  revolution  in  all  its  legal  phases— 


*5* 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


July  royalty,  republic,  and  empire.  He  had  saved  the  Austrian 
empire,  and  hindered  the  creation  of  a  democratic  German  em- 
pire. He  stationed  himself  wherever  the  contrary  principle 
made  its  appearance.  People  surnamed  him  the  Don  Quixote 
of  autocracy  :  like  Cervantes'  hero,  he  possessed  a  chivalrous, 
generous,  and  disinterested  spirit  ;  but,  like  him  too,  he  repre- 
sented a  superannuated  principle  in  a  new  world.  His  part  of 
chief  of  a  chimerical  Holy  Alliance  became  more  visibly  an  an- 
achronism day  by  day.  Since  1848  particularly,  the  "  aspira- 
tions "  of  the  people  were  in  direct  contradiction  with  his 
theories  of  patriarchal  despotism.  This  opposition  was  apparent 
all  through  Europe.  The  Tzar's  prestige  began  to  suffer.  In 
Russia  he  still  contrived  to  sustain  it :  his  successes  in  Turkey, 
Persia,  the  Caucasus,  Poland,  and  Hungary,  and  the  apparent 
deference  of  the  European  princes,  permitted  him  to  play  his 
part  of  Agamemnon  among  kings.  Russia  hoped  to  indemnify 
herself  for  her  internal  submission  by  her  external  greatness. 
People  forgot  to  exclaim  at  the  interference  of  the  police,  at  the 
fetters  imposed  on  the  press,  at  the  intellectual  isolation  of 
Russia,  and  they  renounced  the  control  of  government,  diplo- 
macy, war,  and  administration.  The  hard-working  monarch, 
they  thought,  would  foresee  all,  watch  over  all,  and  bring  all  to 
a  happy  conclusion.  The  men  with  liberal  "  aspirations,"  the 
discontented  and  critical  spirits,  were  not  listened  to.  In  reply 
to  the  objections  timidly  expressed  by  a  few,  was  urged  the 
monarch's  success.  It  seemed  to  justify  absolute  confidence 
and  relinquishment  of  themselves  to  the  Government. 

The  disasters  in  the  East  caused  a  terrible  awakening.  The 
invincible  fleets  of  Russia  were  forced  to  take  refuge  in  the 
ports,  or  to  retreat  into  the  harbor  of  Sebastopol.  The  army 
was  vanquished  at  the  Alma  by  the  allies,  at  Silistria  by  the 
much-despised  Turks.  Fifty  thousand  Westerns  installed  under 
Sebastopol  insulted  the  majesty  of  the  empire  ;  the  allies  of  old 
had  failed  :  Prussia  was  passive,  Austria  a  traitor.  The  silence 
of  the  press  had  during  thirty  years  favored  the  thefts  of  the 
C7nployes :  the  fortresses  and  the  armies  had  been  ruined  before- 
hand by  administrative  corruption.  The  nation  had  expected 
everything  of  the  Government,  and  the  Crimean  war  appeared 
as  in  immense  bankruptcy  of  autocracy  :  the  absolute  and 
patriarchal  monarchy  handed  in  its  schedule  in  face  of  the  Anglo- 
French  invasion.  The  greater  men's  hopes  had  been — the 
more  people  expected  the  conquest  of  Constantinople,  the  up- 
heaval of  the  East,  the  extension  of  the  Slav  empire,  the  deliv- 
erance of  Jerusalem — the  harder  and  more  cruel  was  the  awaken- 
ing.    Then  a  vast  movement  was  felt  in  Russia.     Tongues  were 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


253 


tmloosed,  and  in  default  of  the  press  an  immense  manuscript 
literature  was  secretly  distributed.  The  Government  was  pelted 
with  unexpected  charges,  accusing  the  Emperor,  the  ministers, 
the  administration,  the  diplomatists,  the  generals,  every  one  at 
once.  "  Arise,  O  Russia  !  "  said  one  of  these  anonymous  pamph- 
lets. "  Devoured  by  enemies,  ruined  by  slavery,  shamefully  op- 
pressed by  the  stupidity  of  tchinovniks  and  spies,  awaken  from 
thy  long  sleep  of  ignorance  and  apathy !  We  have  been  kept 
long  enough  in  serfage  by  the  successors  of  the  Tatar  khans. 
Arise,  and  stand  erect  and  calm,  before  the  throne  of  the  despot ; 
demand  of  him  a  reckoning  of  the  national  misfortunes.  Tell 
him  boldly  that  his  throne  is  not  the  Altar  of  God,  and  that 
God  has  not  condemned  us  forever  to  be  slaves.  Russia,  O 
Tzar,  had  confided  to  thee  the  supreme  power,  and  thou  wert  to 
her  as  a  god  upon  earth.  And  what  hast  thou  done  ?  Blinded 
by  passion  and  ignorance,  thou  hast  sought  nothing  but  power ; 
thou  hast  forgotten  Russia.  Thou  hast  consumed  thy  life  in 
reviewing  troops,  in  altering  uniforms,  in  signing  the  legislative 
projects  of  ignorant  charlatans.  Thou  hast  created  a  despica- 
ble race  of  censors  of  the  press,  that  thou  mightst  sleep  in  peace, 
and  never  know  the  wants,  never  hear  the  murmurs  of  thy  peo- 
ple, never  listen  to  the  voice  of  truth.  Truth  !  thou  hast  buried 
her ;  thou  hast  rolled  a  great  stone  before  the  door  of  her 
sepulchre,  thou  hast  placed  a  strong  guard  round  her  tomb,  and 
in  the  exultation  of  thine  heart  thou  hast  said,  '  For  her,  no 
resurrection  ! '  Now,  on  the  third  day,  Truth  has  arisen  ;  she 
has  quickened  herself  amongst  the  dead.  Advance,  O  Tzar! 
appear  at  the  bar  of  God  and  of  history  !  Thou  hast  mercilessly 
trodden  Truth  under  thy  feet,  thou  hast  refused  liberty,  at  the 
same  time  that  thou  wast  enslaved  by  thine  own  passions.  By 
thy  pride  and  obstinacy  thou  hast  exhausted  Russia ;  thou  hast 
armed  the  world  against  her.  Humiliate  thyself  before  thy 
brothers.  Bow  thy  haughty  forehead  in  the  dust,  implore  par- 
don, ask  counsel ;  throw  thyself  into  the  arms  of  thy  people. 
There  is  no  other  way  of  salvation  for  thee." 

More  than  once,  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  the  Tzar  was 
seized  with  doubts,  but  this  advocate  of  absolute  power  could 
not  make  atonement.  "  My  successor,"  he  said,  "  may  do  what 
he  will :  I  cannot  change."  He  could  not  change,  he  could  only 
disappear.  He  was  a  man  of  another  age,  an  anachronism  in 
the  new  Europe.  When,  from  his  villa  at  Peterhof,  he  could 
follow  the  manoeuvres  of  the  enemy's  fleet ;  when  he  heard  raised 
against  him  the  voice  of  the  hitherto  silent  nation,  then  this 
proud  heart  bled, — the  "  iron  Emperor  "  was  broken.  He  longed 
to  die.     One  day  in    February  1855,  having  already   bad   in* 


254 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


fluenza,  he  went  out  without  his  great-coat,  in  a  cold  of  23 
Centig.  His  doctor,  Karrel,  tried  to  restrain  him.  "  You 
have  fulfilled  your  duty,"  replied  the  Emperor,  "  let  me  do  mine." 
Other  imprudences  aggravated  his  illness.  He  gave  his  last 
instructions  to  his  heir,  and  himself  dictated  the  despatch  which 
he  sent  to  all  the  great  towns  of  Russia — "  The  Emperor  is 
dying,"     On  February  ijjth-Marcl^rd  he  died. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


2SS 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ALEXANDER  II.    (1855— 1877^. 

End  of  the  Crimean  war  :  Treaty  of  Paris — The  Act  of  the  19th  of  February, 
1861  :  judicial  reforms  ;  local  self-government — The  Polish  insurrection- 
Intellectual  movement  ;  industrial  progress  ;  military  law — Conquests  io 
Asia — European  policy. 


END  OF  THE  CRIMEAN  WAR  :    TREATY  OF  PARIS. 

Alexander  II.,  born  in  1819,  succeeded  to  the  throne  at  the 
age  of  thirty-seven,  in  circumstances  which  were  as  complicated 
within  as  without.  "  You  will  find  the  burden  heavy,"  said  his 
father  on  his  death-bed.  His  first  care  was  to  terminate  on  hon- 
orable conditions  the  war  which  was  exhausting  Russia.  At 
the  news  of  the  death  of  Nicholas,  the  Funds  had  risen  on  all 
the  exchanges  of  Europe.  This  peaceful  hope  did  not  allow 
itself  to  be  discouraged  by  the  proclamation  by  which  the  new 
Emperor  proposed  to  himself  "  to  accomplish  the  schemes  and 
desires  of  our  illustrious  predecessors — Peter,  Catherine,  Alex- 
ander the  well-beloved,  and  our  father  of  imperishable  memory." 
The  new  sovereign  knew  better  than  anyone  how  little  the  ambi- 
tious projects  of  Peter  and  Catherine  were  appropriate  to  the 
circumstances  in  which  he  found  himself.  A  conference  was 
again  opened  at  Vienna,  between  the  representatives  of  Austria, 
Russia,  and  the  two  Western  Powers.  They  could  not  agree  as 
to  the  guarantees  to  be  exacted  from  Russia.  France  demanded 
the  neutralization  of  the  Black  Sea,  or  the  limitation  of  the 
number  of  vessels  which  the  Tzar  might  keep  in  it.  "  Before 
you  limit  our  forces,"  Gortchakof  and  Titof,  the  representatives 
of  Russia,  might  reply,  "  at  least  take  Sebastopol." 

The  siege  continued.  Sardinia  in  her  turn  now  sent  20,000 
men  to  the  East.  Austria  had  engaged  (2nd  December,  1854)  to 
defend  the  Principalities  against  Russia,  and  Prussia  to  defend 
Austria.  Napoleon  III.  and  Queen  Victoria  exchanged  visits. 
Pe'lissier  had  succeeded  General  Canrobert  (16th  of  May).  In 
the  night  of  the  22nd  cf  May,  two  sorties  of  the  Russians  were 
repulsed.     The  allies  encamped  with  a  strong  force  on  the  left 


2  c;6  HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA. 

bank  of  the  Tchernaia,  an  expedition  destroyed  the  military 
establishments  of  Kertch  and  Ienikale,  occupied  the  Sea  of  Azof, 
and  bombarded  Taganrog,  thus  leaving  to  the  Russians  no  base 
of  supplies  except  Perekop.  The  Turks  were  in  Anapa,  and 
summoned  the  Circassians  to  revolt. 

Pelissier  had  announced  that  he  would  take  Sebastopol.  On 
the  7th  of  June  he  took  the  Green  Mansion  and  the  White 
Works  by  assault.  On  the  18th  the  French  assailed  the  Malakof, 
and  the  English  the  Redan,  but  they  were  repulsed  with  a  loss  of 
3000  men.  On  the  16th  of  August  the  Italian  contingent  dis- 
tinguished itself  at  the  battle  of  Traktir  on  the  TchernaYa.  The 
last  day  of  Sebastopol  had  come  :  874  guns  thundered  against 
the  bastions,  and  against  the  town.  The  Russians  displayed  a 
stoical  bravery  and  a  reckless  intrepidity.  In  the  last  twenty- 
eight  days  of  the  siege  they  lost  18,000  men  by  the  bombardment 
alone  ;  a  million  and  a  half  of  bullets,  bombs,  shells,  and  gren- 
ades had  been  thrown  into  the  town.  The  French  had  dug 
fifty  miles  of  trenches  during  the  336  days  of  the  siege,  and 
4100  feet  of  mines  before  one  bastion  alone.  They  had  pushed 
their  lines  within  100  feet  of  the  Malakof,  under  "  a  hell  fire," 
the  noise  of  which  was  heard  for  more  than  sixty-two  miles  round. 
The  Russian  bastions  crumbled,  bomb-proof  roofs  were  driven 
in,  the  gunners  fell  by  hundreds,  the  soldiers  of  the  reserve  by 
thousands.  Kornilof,  Istomine,  and  Nakhimof  had  fallen.  The 
besieged  had  no  longer  time  to  repair  the  breaches  made  by  the 
batteries,  to  charge  the  useless  pieces,  hardly  to  carry  away  the 
dead.  In  one  single  day  70,000  projectiles  were  fired  into  the 
town.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  On  the  8th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1855,  at  twelve  o'clock,  the  allied  batteries  suddenly 
ceased  to  fire.  The  French  threw  themselves  on  the  Malakof, 
and  maintained  their  position  against  all  efforts  to  dislodge  them, 
and,  in  spite  of  the  check  of  the  English  at  the  Great  Redan, 
Sebastopol  was  taken.  The  Russians  evacuated  the  city  and  the 
Karabelnai'a,  burning  and  blowing  up  everything  in  their  rear,  and 
retreated  to  the  northern  side.  Meanwhile  the  navy  had  con- 
tinued to  threaten  the  coasts  ;  it  destroyed  the  fort  of  Kinburn, 
and  the  Russians  blew  up  that  of  Otchakof. 

Russia,  however,  did  not  yet  seem  ready  to  submit.  Gortcha- 
kof  announced  to  the  army  assembled  at  the  north  of  the  harbor 
of  Sebastopol  that  "  he  would  not  voluntarily  abandon  this 
country  where  St.  Vladimir  had  received  baptism."  Alexander 
too  encouraged  the  brave  troops  with  his  presence,  and  wept 
over  the  ruins  of  the  great  fortress.  The  Bee  newspaper  officially 
announced  to  Europe  "that  the  war  was  now  becoming  serious, 
and  that  Sebastopol  being  destroyed,  a  stronger  fortress  would 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  2$7 

be  built,"  but  the  fact  could  no  longer  be  disguised  that  the 
country  wished  for  peace.  This  war  had  cost  250,000  men;  the 
banks  only  paid  in  paper,  and  the  public  refused  that  of  the 
Government.  England,  on  her  side,  manifested  the  most  warlike 
disposition.  Palmerston  and  the  greater  part  of  the  British  news- 
papers did  not  consider  Russia  sufficiently  humiliated,  but  it  was 
obvious  that  the  war  was  drawing  to  a  close.  The  Treaty  of 
November,  1855,  between  France  and  Sweden,  only  contained  a 
simple  guarantee,  and  no  mention  was  made  of  the  offensive 
alliance  proclaimed  by  the  Gazettes.  The  fall  of  Kars,  by  con- 
soling the  military  vanity  of  Russia,  made  her  more  inclined  to 
treat.  Alexander  II.  declared  his  intention  of  adhering  in 
principle  to  the  "ultimatum  of  the  four  guarantees"  presented 
by  Count  Esterhazy,  and  a  congress  met  at  Paris  on  the  25th  of 
February,  1856.  France,  England,  Austria,  Prussia,  Sardinia, 
and  Turkey  appeared  at  it,  and  Russia  was  represented  by  Baron 
de  Briinnow  and  Alexis  Orlof.  Peace  was  signed  on  the  30th  of 
March  on  the  following  bases: — 1.  Russia  renounced  her  ex- 
clusive right  of  protection  over  the  Danubian  principalities,  and 
all  interference  with  their  internal  affairs.  2.  The  free  naviga- 
tion of  the  Danube  was  to  be  effectually  secured  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  commission,  in  which  the  contracting  parties  should 
be  represented.  Each  of  them  should  have  the  right  to  station 
two  sloops  of  war  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Russia  consented 
to  a  rectification  of  frontiers  which  should  leave  Turkey  and  the 
Roumanian  principalities  all  the  Danubian  delta.  3.  The  Black 
Sea  was  made  neutral  ground:  her  waters,  open  to  merchant 
ships  of  all  nations,  were  forbidden  to  men-of-war,  whether  of  the 
Powers  on  the  coasts  or  of  any  others.  No  military  or  maritime 
arsenals  were  to  be  created  there.  Turkey  and  Russia  could 
only  maintain  ten  light  ships  to  watch  the  coasts.  4.  The  hat- 
tischerif  by  which  the  Sultan  Abdul-Medjid  renewed  the  privi- 
leges of  his  non-Mussulman  subjects  was  inserted  in  the  treaty, 
but  with  the  clause  that  the  Powers  could  not  quote  this  insertion 
as  authorizing  them  to  interfere  between  the  Sultan  and  his 
subjects. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Paris  Russia  lost  both  the  domination  of 
the  Black  Sea  and  the  protectorate  of  the  Eastern  Christians, 
thus  annihilating  the  fruits  of  the  policy  of  Peter  I.,  Anne,  Cath- 
erine II.,  and  Alexander  I.  Thus  were  condemned  to  ruin  the 
fleets  and  naval  arsenals  created  by  Potemkine,  the  Due  de 
Richelieu,  the  Marquis  de  Traversay,  and  Admiral  Lazaref; 
thus  the  fortresses  of  Sebastopol,  Kinburn,  and  Ienikale  were 
deserted.  The  treaties  of  Ka'irnadji,  Bucharest,  and  Adrianople 
were  deprived  of  all  the  hopes  of  conquest  and  dominion  to 
which  they  had  given  rise.     The  imprudent  policy  of  Nicholas 


258  HISTORY  0/   RUSSIA. 

had    compromised    the    work    of    two    centuries    of    successful 
efforts. 

Russia  also  took  part  in  the  Convention  of  1858,  which 
organized  the  principalities  of  Wallachia  and  Moldavia,  and  in 
that  of  1859,  which  allowed  them  to  become  one  State,  namely 
Roumania,  a  precious  relic  of  the  great  Roman  colony  founded 
by  the  Emperor  Trajan  on  the  Lower  Danube. 


THE    ACT    OF   THE    IO/TH    OF    FEBRUARY,    l86l  :    JUDICIAL    REFORMS: 

LOCAL   SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

In  the  manifesto  which  announced  to  his  people  the  termi- 
nation of  the  Eastern  war,  Alexander  expressed  his  conviction 
that  "by  the  combined  efforts  of  the  Government  and  the 
nation,"  government,  law,  and  police  would  undergo  important 
reforms.  He  understood  that  the  disasters  of  the  Danube  and 
the  Crimea  must  in  a  great  measure  be  imputed  to  the  admin- 
istration, protected  as  it  was  by  the  silence  of  public  opinion, 
the  slavery  of  the  press,  and  the  rigor  of  the  police  and  of  the 
censorship.  The  events  of  1855  taught  the  important  lesson 
that  a  people  in  which  the  majority  of  the  agricultural  classes 
was  subjected  to  serfage  could  not  rival  the  European  nations 
in  intellectual,  scientific,  or  industrial  progress.  Now,  in  modern 
warfare,  success  is  the  result  of  all  the  moral  and  material  forces 
of  a  State.  The  system  of  governing  Russia  wifhb'ut  giving  the 
people  a  voice  in  the  management  of  their  own  affairs,  of  con- 
ducting all  public  business  in  the  routine  and  silence  of  the 
bureaux,  was  condemned.  The  officials,  so  haughty  under 
Nicholas,  bowed  their  heads  under  the  public  execration.  The 
name  of  tchinovnik,  once  so  formidable,  became  a  term  of  de- 
rision and  contempt;  public  opinion  naturally  associated  it  with 
everything  superannuated,  ridiculous,  or  odious.  1  The  servants 
of  the  autocracy,  stooping  beneath  the  weight  of  a  crushing  re- 
sponsibility, displayed  a  kind  of  shame  by  hiding  tfieir  pompous 
titles  and  the  decorations  which  they  had  formerly  flaunted  with 
pride.  It  seemed  as  if  the  Conservative  Russia  of  Nicholas  I. 
had  sunk  into  the  earth;  every  one  called  himself  a  Liberal.  A 
breath  of  audacious  hope,  of  courageous  enterprise,  passed  through 
the  country.  The  movement,  which  in  1801  only  affected  the 
immediate  surrounding  of  Alexander,  now  spread  through  all 
Russia.  A  thousand  voices  were  raised  in  the  papers,  in  the 
reviews,  and  in  the  books,  all  suddenly  emancipated;  in  the 
drawing-rooms  and  in  the  streets,  where  the  bewildered  police 
forgot  to  spy.     What  had  been  murmured  in  the  manuscript 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  259 

literature  of  the  last  months  of  Nicholas  was  now  printed  freely. 
"The  heart  beats  with  joy,"  said  one  of  the  leading  organs  of 
the  press,  "in  expectation  of  the  social  reforms  which  are  on  the 
point  of  being  carried  out — reforms  which  will  give  satisfaction  to 
the  minds,  wishes,  and  hopes  of  the  public.  The  ancient  harmony 
and  community  of  sentiment  which,  in  all  but  short  and  excep- 
tional periods,  have  always  existed  between  the  Government 
and  the  people,  are  completely  re-established.  The  absence  of 
all  sentiment  of  caste,  the  feeling  of  a  common  origin,  and  of  a 
fraternity  which  binds  all  classes  of  Russia  into  a  single  homo- 
geneous people,  will  permit  the  easy  and  peaceful  fulfilment,  not 
only  of  those  great  reforms  which  have  cost  Europe  centuries  of 
bitter  struggles,  but  of  other  reforms  that  the  nations  of  the 
West,  enchained  by  their  feudal  traditions  and  their  caste  prej- 
udices, are  even  now  in  no  state  to  accomplish."  And  again : 
"We  have  to  fight  in  the  name  of  the  highest  truth  with  egotism 
and  the  pitiful  interests  of  the  moment.  We  must  prepare  our 
children  from  their  tenderest  years  to  take  part  in  the  struggle 
that  awaits  every  brave  man.  We  must  thank  the  war  which 
has  opened  our  eyes  to  the  dark  sides  of  our  political  and  social 
organization,  and  it  is  our  duty  to  profit  by  the  lesson.  But  we 
ought  not  to  suppose  that  the  Government  can  of  itself  cure  us 
of  our  faults.  Russia  is  like  a  stranded  ship,  which  the  captain 
and  the  crew  alone  could  never  rescue;  she  can  only  be  floated 
by  the  all-powerful  reflux  of  the  national  life."  Men  of  letters, 
suspected  and  spied  upon  during  the  preceding  reign,  now  led 
public  opinion.  Literature  took  a  militant  and  practical  char- 
acter; the  old  quarrel  of  the  romantic  and  classical  schools  was 
left  far  behind.  "It  did  not  seem  strange,"  says  Mr.  Mackenzie 
Wallace,  "that  a  drama  should  be  written  to  defend  free  trade 
or  a  poem  to  extol  a  certain  form  of  impost,  nor  that  political 
ideas  should  be  expressed  in  a  story,  whilst  the  adversary  replied 
in  a  comedy."  The  delicate  questions  that  the  Russian  press 
feared  to  bring  forward,  and  the  great  personages  that  it  did  not 
dare  to  attack,  were  left  to  the  exiled  Hertzen  in  London,  with 
his  terrible  Bell  (Kolokol),  the  dread  of  dishonest  officials.  The 
proscribed  numbers  of  the  Kolokol  made  their  way  by  thousands 
into  Russia,  were  laid  on  the  table  of  the  Emperor,  and  revealed 
to  him  the  most  secret  iniquities. 

In  their  eagerness  for  reform  the  people  wished  everything 
to  be  undertaken  at  once,  but  it  was  soon  seen  that  all  questions 
remained  in  abeyance  till  that  of  the  emancipation  of  the  peas- 
ants was  settled.  Whether  it  was  a  question  of  self-government, 
of  education,  of  industrial  liberty,  of  military  service,  or  legal 
equality,  it  was  sure  to  come  back  to  social  refortn,  where  there- 
fore they  must  begin. 


260  HISTORY   OF  RUSSIA. 

The  unfree  population  of  Russia  amounted  at  that  time  to 
47,100,000  individuals,  divided  into  20,000,000  Crown  peasants, 
4,700,000  peasants  of  appanages,  mines,  factories,  etc.,  21,000,000 
belonging  to  proprietors,  and  1,400,000  dvorovie,  or  domestic 
servants.  The  peasants  of  the  Crown  and  of  the  appanages 
might  be  considered  as  freemen,  subject  to  the  payment  of  a 
rent,  or  of  other  well-defined  dues,  settled  by  the  State,  which 
was  represented  either  by  the  administration  of  the  domain  or 
by  the  department  of  the  appanages.  The  Crown  peasants  even 
enjoyed  a  sort  of  local  self-government.  They  regulated  their 
affairs  in  their  communes  or  mirs  through  an  elder  and  an 
elected  council.  They  were  judged  by  elected  tribunals — the 
tribunal  of  the  village  and  the  tribunal  of  the  volost  or  district, 
which  applied  the  peasant  customs.  Nothing  more  was  needed 
than  to  give  the  name  of  freemen  to  men  substantially  free. 
This  was  done  when  their  right  to  personal  liberty  was  pro- 
claimed, and  when  certain  restrictions  on  their  right  to  come 
and  go,  to  acquire  new  lands,  or  to  dispose  of  their  goods  were 
abolished.  This  was  accomplished  by  a  series  of  edicts,  the  first 
dating  July,  1858. 

The  case  of  peasants  belonging  to  private  owners,  and  the 
position  of  the  dvorovie,  were  different.  The  emancipation  of 
these  22,500,000  men  was  to  bring  about  the  most  prodigious 
social  change  which  has  taken  place  in  Europe  since  the  French 
Revolution.  The  liberation  of  the  peasants  properly  so  called, 
which  would  make  them  owners  of  part  of  the  soil  which  they 
cultivated,  was  an  enterprise  surrounded  with  difficulties  on  all 
sides.  As  to  the  question  of  personal  liberty,  every  one  was 
agreed,  but  there  were  dissensions  as  to  the  question  of  property. 
To  elucidate  this  it  was  necessary  to  go  back  to  the  historic 
origin  of  Russian  property,  to  choose  between  the  systems  and 
theories  formulated  by  different  schools  of  historians.  The  most 
authoritative  of  these  proved  that  serfage  was  not  introduced 
into  Russia  by  the  conquest  of  one  race  by  another,  for  it  was 
exactly  in  those  provinces  conquered  by  the  Russians — in  the 
Finnish  or  Tartar  countries — that  serfage  did  not  exist,  while  its 
greatest  development  was  to  be  found  in  the  midst  of  the 
conquering  people.  Serfage  had  been  sanctioned  by  a  series  of 
acts  emanating  from  the  throne;  and  the  nearer  a  province  was 
to  the  Muscovite  centre,  the  more  ancient  and  the  more  firmly 
established  was  serfage  found  to  be.  The  northern  regions,  the 
governments  of  Archangel  and  Vologda,  were  exempt  from  it. 
The  krepostnoe  pravo  was  therefore  a  Muscovite  institution,  a 
creation  of  the  Tzarian  power.  It  took  its  rise  in  the  period 
when,  under  the  pressure  of  the  Mongol  yoke,  Russian  society 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  2  6 1 

formed  itself  into  a  rigorous  hierarchy,  in  which  the  sovereign 
of  Moscow  arrogated  to  himself  absolute  authority  over  the 
nobles,  as  the  nobles  did  over  the  peasants — their  subjects.  The 
krepostnotf  pravo  sprang  from  the  new  wants  of  the  infant  State. 
The  grant  of  lands  to  the  military  class,  to  the  nobles,  was  the 
recompense  for  the  service  exacted  from  them  ;  the  revenues  of 
the  soil  constituted  their  pay,  and  were  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
their  outfit  and  equipment.  They  were  besides  charged  to  govern 
and  administer  the  lands  of  their  domain,  and  to  pay  in  the 
amount  of  the  poll-tax  to  the  prince,  whose  tax-gatherers  they  were. 
But  the  land  had  no  value  without  the  hands  that  cultivated 
it,  the  revenues  of  an  estate  diminished  with  the  number  of  peas- 
ants ;  the  noble  who  was  deserted  by  his  peasants  was  ruined,  and 
in  no  condition  to  serve  the  prince.  In  order  that  military 
service  might  be  secured,  and  that  the  produce  of  the  tax  might 
suffer  no  diminution,  it  was  necessary  to  hinder  the  emigration 
of  the  peasants.  The  interest  of  the  noble,  as  well  as  the 
interest  of  the  State,  demanded  that  the  liberty  of  coming  and 
going  should  be  restrained,  that  the  noble  should  be  armed  with 
a  formidable  authority  over  the  peasant,  and  that  the  laborer 
should  be  fixed  to  the  soil.  Almost  everywhere,  without  any  in- 
tervention on  the  part  of  the  legislature,  the  husbandman 
gradually  became  a  serf.  Legally  free,  the  peasant  had  become 
a  slave  ;  legally  a  simple  tenant  for  life,  the  noble  had  become 
in  fact  the  owner  of  the  land,  the  proprietor  of  the  peasants. 
The  state  of  things  created  by  arbitrary  power  was  afterwards 
legalized  by  a  series  of  legislative  acts,  which  one  after  the 
other  restrained  the  liberty  of  the  mougik  and  augmented  the 
authority  of  the  lord.  Such  were  the  oukazes  of  Feodor  Ivano- 
vitch  in  1592  and  1597,  of  Boris  Godounof  in  1601,  of  Vassili 
Choui'ski  in  1607,  of  Peter  the  Great  in  1723,  and  of  Catherine 
II.  for  Little  Russia  in  1783. 

The  peasant,  while  resigning  himself  to  this  condition  of 
affairs,  had  not  entirely  lost  all  sense  of  his  rights.  His  ancient 
right  to  the  ownership  of  the  land  he  expressed  after  his  own 
fashion  in  the  proverb,  "  Our  backs  are  the  lord's,  but  the  soil  is 
cur  own."  He  forgot  less  easily  than  the  Government  the  fact 
ehat  the  peasant's  obligation  to  serve  the  lord  was  co-relative  to 
the  lord's  obligation  to  serve  the  Tzar.  When  Peter  III.  in  his 
short  reign  freed  the  nobles  from  the  obligation  of  serving  the 
State,  the  peasant  expected  that  the  corollary  of  this  first  edict 
would  be  a  second  edict,  setting  free  the  peasant  from  his 
bondage  to  the  soil  and  from  paying  dues  to  the  lord.  Hence 
the  troubles  of  1762,  the  insurrection  of  1773,  when  a  false 
Peter  III.  appeared  to  finish  the  work  of  the  deceased  Emperor. 


2 62  JIISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

During  the  campaign  of  1812,  the  peasants  for  a  moment 
believed  that  Napoleon  was  bringing  them  liberty,  and  the  agi- 
tation was  revived  during  the  Crimean  war.  Serfage  was  de- 
cidedly the  weak  point  of  Russia.  An  invader  could  raise 
against  her  at  once  a  servile  and  a  foreign  war. 

We  have  seen  the  efforts  at  emancipation  under  Alexandei 
I.,  and  the  edict  of  Nicholas  in  1842.  The  latter,  by  the 
oukazes  of  1845,  1847,  and  1848,  had  recognized  the  right  of  in- 
dividuals and  communes  to  acquire  landed  property.  One  of 
Nicholas's  enemies  has  not  been  able  to  refuse  him  this  testi- 
mony :  "  However  hostile  may  have  been  his  views  of  liberty, 
we  must  do  him  the  justice  to  say  that  he  never  ceased  through 
the  whole  of  his  life  to  cherish  the  idea  of  emancipating  the 
serfs  "  ('  Truth  about  Russia').  He  had  to  bequeath  this  task 
to  his  son.  A  few  days  after  the  Treaty  of  Paris  was  signed,  in 
March  1856,  Alexander  II.,  in  an  address  to  the  marshal  of  the 
Moscow  nobility,  while  guarding  himself  against  the  notion  that 
he  aimed  at  the  instant  emancipation  of  the  serfs,  invites  "  his 
faithful  nobles  "  to  seek  the  proper  means  to  prepare  for  the 
execution  of  this  measure.  The  Muscovite  proprietors  showed, 
however,  but  little  enthusiasm.  The  Emperor  had  to  content 
himself  with  appointing  (2nd-i4th  January,  1857)  "  a  chief 
committee  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  peasants." 
He  understood  that  such  a  measure  could  only  be  carried  out  by 
an  energetic  exercise  of  the  imperial  power.  This  same  year 
the  nobles  of  the  governments  of  Kief,  Volhynia,  and  Podolia, 
disturbed  by  the  measures  taken  by  Nicholas  I.  after  the  insti- 
tution of  the  "  inventories,"  "  took,"  says  Schnitzler,  "  a  desperate 
resolution."  They  declared  themselves  ready  to  emancipate 
the  peasants.  Whether  they  thought  that  the  bare  idea  of  so 
radical  a  measure  would  alarm  the  Government,  or  whether  they 
hoped  that  the  emancipation  would  necessarily  be  based  on  the 
idea  of  a  proportionate  pecuniary  indemnity,  they  furnished  the 
Emperor  with  the  occasion  he  sought  to  give  the  question  a  final 
impulse.  He  authorized  by  an  edict  the  nobility  of  the  three 
Lithuanian  governments  to  proceed  with  the  work  of  emancipa- 
tion. He  sent  this  edict  and  the  ministerial  instructions  which 
formed  its  commentary  to  all  the  governors  and  all  the  marshals 
of  the  nobility  throughout  the  provinces  of  the  empire,  "  for 
their  information,"  and  also,  adds  the  circular,  "  for  your  direc- 
tion, in  case  that  the  nobles  confided  to  your  care  should  express 
the  same  intention  as  the  three  Lithuanian  governments.  The 
nobles  of  St.  Petersburg,  Nijni-Novgorod,  and  Orel  made  a 
reply  which  encouraged  the  Emperor. 

Another  encouragement  came  to  him  from  the  press,  almost 


HISTOR  V  OF  R USSIA.  2 63 

the  whole  of  which  hailed  with  enthusiasm  a  measure  "  which 
was  to  open  a  new  and  glorious  epoch  in  the  national  history." 
"  All  sections  of  the  literary  world,"  says  Mr.  Mackenzie  Wal- 
lace (vol.  ii.  p.  277),  "had  arguments  to  offer  in  support  of  the 
foregone  conclusion.  The  moralists  declared  that  all  prevailing 
vices  were  the  product  of  serfage,  and  that  moral  progress  was 
impossible  in  an  atmosphere  of  slavery ;  the  lawyers  asserted 
that  the  arbitrary  authority  of  the  proprietors  over  the  peasants 
had  no  firm  legal  basis ;  the  economists  explained  that  free 
labor  was  an  indispensable  condition  of  industrial  and  commer- 
cial prosperity  ;  the  philosophical  historians  showed  that  the 
normal  historical  development  of  the  country  demanded  the 
abolition  of  barbarism  ;  and  the  writers  of  the  sentimental,  gush- 
ing type  poured  forth  endless  effusions  about  brotherly  love  to 
the  weak  and  oppressed." 

Already  the  question  was  not  one  of  giving  the  peasant  his 
liberty  alone.  In  order  to  prevent  the  peasant,  now  free,  but 
detached  from  the  soil,  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  his  ancient 
master,  and  into  a  state  of  dependence  more  insupportable  than 
that  of  the  past ;  to  hinder  the  formation  of  an  immense  pro- 
letariat, more  hungry  and  more  dangerous  than  that  which,  it 
was  said,  menaced  the  kingdoms  of  the  West,  it  was  necessary 
to  give  the  newly  liberated  men  some  property,  to  reconstitute 
and  strengthen  the  Russian  commune,  whose  strong  unity  and 
indestructible  life  formed  the  best  rampart  against  pauperism. 
Many  proprietors  associated  themselves  with  this  movement ; 
they  trusted  that  the  abolition  of  the  serfage  of  the  peasants 
would  have  as  its  'consequence  the  limitation  of  the  autocratic 
authority  of  the  Tzars,  and  that  by  enfranchising  their  serfs  they 
would  themselves  gain  political  liberty.  The  re-establishment 
of  the  ancient  douma  of  the  sobor  was  more  than  once  spoken  of, 
the  kind  o  national  parliament  which  under  more  modern  forms 
would  associate  the  country  with  the  exercise  of  the  supreme 
authority. 

The  Government,  supported  by  the  addresses  of  many  bodies 
of  nobility,  ordered  the  creation  of  committees  of  landowners, 
charged  to  examine  the  question.  Forry-six  committees,  com- 
posed of  1336  landowners,  assembled  to  discuss  the  rights  of 
23,000,000  of  serfs,  and  of  120  proprietors.  The  forty-six  com- 
mittees unanimously  pronounced  for  the  abolition  of  serfage 
without  any  recompense,  but  opinions  were  divided  as  to  the 
distribution  of  lands  and  the  conditions  of  indemnity.  The  Em- 
peror had  again  to  interfere.  He  called  a  chief  committee,  com- 
posed of  twelve  persons,  over  which  he  presided.  This  com- 
mittee more  than  once  opposed,  in  conjunction  with  some  of  the 

7ol.  2  R  25 


264  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

provincial  committees,  passive  resistance  to  the  beneficent 
schemes  of  the  sovereign.  The  Emperor  went  through  the 
provinces,  appealing  to  the  conciliatory  spirit  and  devotion  of 
his  nobility,  reprimanding  those  who  hung  back,  and  reminding 
them  that  "  reforms  came  better  from  above  than  from  below." 
To  subdue  the  resistance  of  the  superior  committee  he  created 
another,  to  which  the  old  one  was  subordinated,  and  which  he 
packed  with  men  devoted  to  the  new  idea. 

The  new  "  imperial  commission  "  did  not  content  itself  with 
elaborating  the  materials  furnished  by  the  provincial  committees. 
Directly  inspired  by  the  Emperor,  who  sent  them  his  paper  on 
"  the  progress  and  issue  of  the  peasant  question,"  they  legislated 
on  all  sides,  at  the  risk  of  throwing  into  opposition  proprietors 
who  were  well  disposed,  but  who  complained  that  they  had 
never  been  consulted,  and  that  the  commission  seemed  desirous 
of  depriving  them  of  the  merit  of  their  sacrifices.  The  commis- 
sion gradually  gave  to  the  reform  a  more  and  more  radical  char- 
acter. It  admitted  the  principle  that  the  emancipation  should 
not  take  place  gradually,  but  that  the  law  should  insure  the  im- 
mediate abolition  of  serfdom  ;  that  the  most  effectual  measures 
should  be  taken  to  prevent  the  re-establishment  of  the  seignorial 
authority  under  other  forms,  by  the  liberal  organization  of  the 
rural  communes  ;  and  that  the  peasant  should  become  a  pro- 
prietor on  the  payment  of  an  indemnity.  From  these  delibera- 
tions resulted  the  new  law,  announced  by  the  manifesto  of  the 
19th  of  February-31-d  of  March,  1861. 

The  fundamental  principles  of  the  new  legislation  may  be 
summed  up  thus  : — 1.  The  peasants  up  to  that  time  attached  to 
the  soil  were  to  be  invested  with  all  the  rights  of  free  cultiva- 
tors. 2.  The  peasants  should  obtain,  minus  the  dues  fixed  by 
law,  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  enclosure  (dvor),  and  also  a  cer- 
tain quantity  of  arable  land,  sufficient  to  guarantee  the  accom- 
plishment of  their  obligations  towards  the  State.  This  "  perma- 
nent enjoyment  "  might  be  exchanged  for  an  "  absolute  owner- 
ship "  of  the  enclosure  and  the  lands,  subject  to  a  right  to  buy 
them  back.  3.  The  lords  were  to  concede  to  the  peasants  or  to 
the  rural  communes  the  land  actually  occupied  by  the  latter ;  in 
each  district,  however,  a  maximum  and  a  minimum  were  to  be 
fixed.  On  the  whole  there  was  an  average  of  three  dessiatines 
and  a  half  for  each  male  peasant ;  but  it  varied  from  one  to 
twelve  dessiatines,  that  is  to  say,  the  peasants  in  general  received 
jess  in  the  Black  Land,  and  more  in  the  less  productive  zones. 
4.  The  Government  was  to  organize  a  system  of  loans,  which  would 
permit  the  peasants  immediately  to  liberate  themselves  from 
their  lords,   while   remaining  debtors  to  the   State.      5.   The 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  365 

dvorovi/,  who  were  not  attached  to  the  soil,  were  only  to  receive 
their  personal  liberty,  on  condition  of  serving  their  masters  for 
two  years.  6.  To  bring  the  great  work  of  partition  into  seigno- 
rial  lands  and  peasant  lands,  to  a  happy  conclusion  ;  to  regulate 
the  amount  of  the  dues,  the  conditions  of  repurchase,  and  all 
the  questions  which  might  arise  from  the  execution  of  the  law, 
the  temporary  magistracy  of  the  mirovye'  possre1 dniki,  or  media- 
tors of  peace,  was  instituted,  who  showed  themselves  for  the 
most  part  honest,  patient,  impartial,  equitable,  and  who  deserve 
a  great  part  of  the  honor  of  this  pacific  settlement. 

The  peasants,  freed  from  the  seignorial  authority,  were  or- 
ganized into  communes  ;  or  rather  the  commune,  the  mtr,  which 
is  the  primordial  and  antique  element  of  Slavo-Russian  society, 
acquired  a  new  force.  It  inherited  the  right  of  police  and  of  sur- 
veillance, held  by  the  lord  over  his  subjects ;  it  administered 
and  judged  with  more  liberty  the  suits  of  the  peasants.  In  ac- 
cordance with  the  ancient  Slav  law,  the  land  bought  from  the 
lord  remained  the  common  property  of  all  the  members  of  the 
mir :  each  peasant  only  held  as  his  private  property  his  en- 
closure and  the  land  thereto  pertaining.  Arable  lands  are  sub- 
ject to  periodical  partition,  more  or  less  frequent,  among  the 
heads  of  families,  and  only  possessed  by  them  by  way  of  usufruct. 
The  law,  which  does  not  permit  a  final  partition  of  the  common 
land,  except  when  two-thirds  of  those  interested  consent,  will 
for  long  maintain  against  the  destructive  action  of  new  manners 
and  new  wants  this  old  European  institution,  which  in  our  Wes- 
tern countries  has  disappeared  for  centuries,  in  France  especi- 
ally, and  has  left  no  trace,  except  so-called  communal  properties. 
The  communes,  freed  from  the  lords,  were  grouped,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  imperial  domains,  into  volosts :  a  volost  tribunal  re- 
ceived the  appeal  from  the  communal  justices,  and  a  volost  muni- 
cipality was  charged  to  watch  over  the  common  interests  of  all 
the  villages  under  its  jurisdiction.  The  mayor  of  the  commune 
was  called  starost ;  the  volost  mayor,  starchitia.  The  Russian 
peasants  were  thus  given  a  complete  system  of  local  self-govern- 
ment, of  an  absolutely  rural  character,  for  the  former  lord  was 
kept  absolutely  apart  from  it.  Since  his  ancient  domain  had 
been  divided  into  seignorial  lands  and  peasant  lands,  he  ceased 
legally  to  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  village.  His  interests  being 
absolutely  distinct  from  those  of  the  peasants,  he  was  forbidden 
to  meddle  either  with  them,  their  elections,  their  administra- 
tion, or  their  justice. 

The  great  measure  of  emancipation  was,  in  fact,  a  settle- 
ment of  accounts  as  to  the  ancient  community  existing  between 
masters  and  peasants.     It  imposed  sacrifice  on  both  the  inter- 


,66  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

ested  parties.  If  the  proprietors  were  forced  to  renounce  theif 
seignorial  rights,  the  obrok,  the  corve"e,  and  part  of  their  lands  in 
exchange  for  an  indemnity,  the  peasant  found  it  hard  to  be 
obliged  to  buy  the  very  ground  whereon  his  cottage  stood  ;  the 
soil  which  his  ancestors  had  cultivated  in  the  sweat  of  their 
brows,  even  the  land  reserved  for  the  lord,  they  regarded  in 
many  places  as  their  own  property,  because  it  had  been  culti- 
vated by  them  from  time  immemorial.  The  partition  imposed 
by  the  law  seemed  spoliation  to  them.  The  discontent  often 
showed  itself  in  an  obstinate  resistance  to  the  advice  of  the 
"mediators  of  peace,"  by  the  refusal  to  acquit  themselves  of 
iheir  legal  obligations,  and  to  enter  into  negotiation  with  the 
Jord  for  the  repurchase  of  the  land.  They  persuaded  themselves 
ihat  rhe  nobles  and  officials  had  falsified  the  edict  of  the  Tzar, 
l>x  that  a  fresh  act  of  emancipation,  the  true  one,  was  to  be  pro- 
claimed. A  strange  ferment  arose  in  many  provinces ;  it  was 
necessary  to  call  out  the  soldiery,  and  three  times  the  troops 
had  to  fire  on  the  people.  In  the  government  of  Kazan,  10,000 
men  rose  at  the  call  of  the  peasant  Pdtrof,  who  announced  to 
ihem  "  the  true  liberty."  A  hundred  perished,  and  the  chief 
himself  was  taken  and  shot.  The  emancipation  was  none  the 
jess  a  beneficent  and  essential  reform,  of  which  the  present  gen- 
eration will  have  to  pay  the  price,  while  its  good  results  will  de- 
velop in  future  generations.  The  Russian  peasants  owe  their 
liberty  above  all  to  the  firm  will  of  the  Emperor;  to  the  gener- 
ous efforts  of  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  and  of  the  Grand 
Duchess  Helena,  who  in  1859  gave  an  example  by  emancipating 
her  own  peasants  ;  to  the  enlightened  patriotism  of  Rostovtsof, 
of  Panine,  Minister  of  Justice,  of  Nicholas  Milioutine,  of  Prince 
Tcherkasski,  of  Iouri  Samarine,  members  of  the  Imperial  Com- 
mission, of  Kochelef,  Solovief,  Ioukovski,  Domotouvitch,  etc. ; 
and  to  a  great  part  of  the  proprietors,  many  of  whom  granted 
their  peasants  more  than  the  maximum  of  land  fixed  by  law. 

As  a  reward  for  their  sacrifices  the  upper  classes  in  Russia 
demanded  reforms,  and  more  political  liberty.  If  they  were  re- 
fused the  re-establishment  of  the  douma,  that  is  to  say  constitu< 
tional  government,  great  reforms  were  at  last  accomplished  in 
justice  and  in  provincial  administration. 

In  judicial  affairs,  the  edicts  from  1862  to  1865  introduced 
innovations  sanctioned  by  the  experience  of  Western  States. 
Public  accusation  and  defence  succeeded  to  the  written  and  in- 
quisitorial procedure  of  former  times.  Criminal  justice  was 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  jury  ;  the  police  were  deprived  of  the 
judicial  instruction,  which  was  given  to  special  magistrates,  the 
juges  d}  instruction  ;  and  district  courts  (pkroujny/  soudi)  were  es* 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  ifrj 

tablished  in  each  group  of  ouiezdi,  or  districts.  Appeals  were 
carried  up  to  "  palaces  of  justice  "  (soudebnya  palaty)  similar  to 
the  French  courts  of  appeal,  but  which  only  reversed  the  sen- 
tences of  the  first  judges  in  cases  where  the  law  was  misinter- 
preted and  misapplied.  The  senate,  made  into  a  court  of  revi- 
sion or  of  annulment,  crowns  all  this  organization,  in  which  we 
find  certain  wholly  French  ideas.  The  justices  of  the  peace 
constitute  a  separate  hierarchy  :  the  judge  of  peace  (mirovoi 
soudia),  elected  by  the  landed  proprietors  of  the  district,  sits  al- 
so in  a  tribunal  of  arbitration  and  of  ordinary  police ;  his  juris- 
diction, much  more  extensive  than  in  France,  includes  the  civil 
cases  not  exceeding  500  roubles,  and  criminal  cases  where  the 
penalty  does  not  exceed  300  roubles,  or  more  than  a  year's  im- 
prisonment. The  sentence  can  only  be  appealed  from  when  the 
the  sum  involved  exceeds  thirty  roubles  in  civil,  and  fifteen 
roubles  or  three  days'  imprisonment  in  criminal  cases.  In  this 
case  the  appeal  is  taken,  not  as  in  France  before  the  district 
tribunal,  but  before  the  assembly  of  justices  of  the  peace  for  the 
district  (arrondissement),  or  miroim  siezd,  whose  verdict  can  only 
be  annulled  by  the  senate. 

The  Russian  provinces  or  governments  {gouoernit)  are 
divided  into  ouiezdi  or  districts.  In  each  district  the  law  of 
1864  institutes  a  district  council,  formed  by  deputies  elected 
every  three  years,  in  certain  fixed  proportions,  by  the  three 
orders  of  the  State, — the  landed  proprietors,  or  gentlemen  ;  the 
rural  communes,  or  mirs ;  and  the  towns.  The  council  as- 
sembles once  a  year,  and  is  replaced  in  the  interval  between  its 
sessions  by  a  permanent  executive  committee.  The  functions 
of  the  district  council,  which  occupies  in  the  administrative 
hierarchy  the  rank  immediately  superior  to  the  municipal  coun- 
cil of  the  towns  and  to  the  councils  of  the  rural  voZosts,  consist 
in  being  obliged  to  keep  the  roads  and  bridges  in  repair,  to 
watch  over  education  and  sanitary  affairs,  to  inspect  the  state 
of  the  harvest,  and  to  take  measures  for  the  prevention  of  famine. 
Above  the  district  council  (puiezdnoe  zemstvd)  was  instituted  the 
general  council  {goubernkoe' zemstvd),  elected,  not  by  the  primary 
electors,  but  by  the  district  councils  of  the  provinces,  and  in 
which  there  was  practically  a  large  proportion  of  noble  deputies, 
in  consequence  of  the  tendency  of  the  peasants  to  avoid  all 
public  charges,  more  considerable  in  this  than  in  the  other 
assembly.  The  general  council  occupies  itself  with  affairs  con- 
cerning several  districts,  and  votes  the  provincial  budget.  Such 
is  a  summary  of  the  system  of  self-government  with  which  the 
present  reign  has  endowed  Russia. 

Corporal  punishments,  that  blot  on  ancient   Russia,  have 


«68  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

been  abolished  in  the  army  and  the  imperial  tribunals.  They 
only  remain  in  vigor  in  the  tribunals  of  the  peasants,  who,  from 
their  attachment  to  the  ancient  patriarchal  customs,  still  apply 
some  blows  with  a  cord  to  delinquents.  The  censorship  has 
been  mitigated ;  the  newspapers  of  both  capitals  have  received 
the  right  to  choose  between  censorship  or  the  liberty  of  appear- 
ing at  their  own  risk  and  peril.  In  this  case  an  arrangement 
borrowed  from  the  second  French  empire  is  applied :  after  three 
warnings,  the  paper  may  be  suspended  or  suppressed.  The 
periodical  press  of  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow  has  developed 
in  a  surprising  manner  in  an  atmosphere  of  comparative  liberty; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  provincial  press,  even  in  the  largest 
towns,  such  as  Kief  and  Kazan,  scarcely  exists.  That  of  War- 
saw is  in  an  exceptional  situation  ;  that  of  the  Baltic  provinces 
«njoys  a  greater  freedom. 

Since  1859  the  table  of  receipts  (559  million  roubles),  and 
that  of  State  expenses  (553  millions),  have  been  given  a  kind 
of  publicity.  In  i860  foreigners  acquired  all  the  civil  rights 
accorded  to  natives,  and  which  are  held  by  Russians  in  foreign 
countries.  The  barriers  raised  by  Nicholas  between  his  empire 
and  Europe  have  been  partially  overthrown.  The  Jews,  those 
at  least  exercising  a  trade,  were  authorized  to  remove  from 
Poland  and  the  western  governments  into  the  interior  of  the 
empire.  The  universities  have  been  freed  from  the  shackles 
imposed  by  Nicholas,  the  limitation  of  the  number  of  students 
abolished,  the  charges  of  study  lowered,  and  numerous  scholar- 
ships created. 

THE   POLISH  INSURRECTION. 

Great  hopes  awakened  in  Poland  at  the  accession  of  the  new 
sovereign  ;  they  went  as  far  as  the  re-establishment  of  the 
constitution,  and  even  to  the  reunion  of  the  Lithuanian  prov- 
inces with  the  kingdom.  The  awaking  of  Italy  had  made  that 
of  Poland  appear  possible  ;  the  concessions  of  the  Emperor  of 
Austria  to  Hungary  led  men^to  expect  the  same  from  Alexander 
II.  The  interview  of  the  three  Northern  sovereigns  at  Warsaw, 
in  October  i860,  caused  a  certain  irritation  among  the  people. 
It  is  necessary  also  to  take  into  consideration  the  intrigues  set 
on  foot  by  the  Polish  committees  abroad.  If  many  Poles  counted 
on  the  support  of  Alexander  II.  to  help  them  to  raise  their 
country,  others  wished  to  emancipate  her  entirely  from  Russia* 
There  existed,  therefore,  two  parties  in  Warsaw  and  in  the 
foreign  committees  ;  the  one  wished  to  take  Italy  as  an  ex- 
ample, the  other  would  be  content  with  the  new  lot  of  Hungary. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  269 

The  emancipation  of  the  peasants  was  in  Poland,  as  in  Russia, 
the  question  of  the  day,  but  the  conditions  of  the  question  were 
different  in  Warsaw  from  what  they  were  in  Moscow :  the  per- 
sonal liberty  of  the  rustics  had  been  decreed  by  Napoleon  I., 
at  the  time  that  the  Grand  Duchy  was  created  ;  but  as  they  had 
received  no  property,  they  continued  to  farm  the  lands  of  the 
nobles,  and  paid  their  rent  either  in  money  or  by  corv/es.  The 
substitution  of  a  fixed  money  payment  instead  of  a  corvee  was 
the  first  step  in  the  path  of  reform,  which  might  be  carried 
further  by  allowing  the  husbandman  to  become  a  proprietor,  by 
paying  annually  a  fixed  sum  towards  the  repurchase  of  the  land, 
and  putting  means  of  credit  at  his  disposal.  The  Agricultural 
Society,  presided  over  by  Count  Andrew  Zamoiski,  found  that  it 
was  the  interest  of  the  Polish  nation  to  anticipate  the  Russian 
Government,  and  to  secure  to  the  native  nobility  the  honor  of 
emancipation  ;  the  Government,  on  the  contrary,  represented 
by  M.  Moukhanof,  director  of  the  Interior,  decided  that  it  was 
to  its  advantage  to  fetter  the  activity  of  the  society,  to  forbid 
the  discussion  of  the  question  of  repurchase,  and  to  confine 
its  functions  to  the  mutation  of  the  corvte  into  fixed  dues. 

The  contest  between  the  Agricultural  Society  and  the  Gov- 
ernment increased  the  agitation  which  already  existed  at  Warsaw. 
On  the  29th  of  November,  i860,  on  the  occasion  of  the  thirtieth 
anniversary  of  the  revolution  of  1830,  demonstrations  at  once 
national  and  religious  took  place  in  the  streets  of  the  capital, 
and  portraits  of  Kosciuszko  and  Kilinski  were  distributed.  On 
the  25th  of  February,  1861,  the  day  of  the  anniversary  of  the 
battle  of  Grochov,  the  Agricultural  Society  held  a  meeting  to 
deliberate  on  an  address,  in  which  the  Emperor  should  be  asked 
for  a  constitution.  Tumultuous  crowds  gathered  in  the  streets, 
singing  national  songs.  On  the  27th,  on  the  occasion  of  a 
funeral  service  for  the  victims  of  the  preceding  insurrections, 
there  was  a  new  demonstration,  which  had  to  be  suppressed, 
with  the  loss  of  five  killed  and  ten  wounded.  Prince  Gortchakof, 
Viceroy  of  Poland,  touched  by  these  strange  manifestations,  in 
which  the  disarmed  people  confined  themselves  stoically  to 
facing  the  musketry  without  interrupting  their  songs,  labored 
with  Count  Zamoiski  for  the  restoration  of  order.  The  address 
to  the  Emperor  circulated  in  Warsaw,  and  was  covered  with 
signatures  ;  100,000  persons  quietly  followed  the  obsequies  of 
the  victims  of  the  27th  of  February. 

Without  desiring  to  grant  a  constitution,  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander II.  made,  however,  many  important  concessions.  He  de- 
creed (edict  of  March  26)  a  council  of  state  for  the  kingdom,  a 
department  of  public  education  and  of  worship,  elective  councils 


%  7  0  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

in  each  government  and  each  district,  and  municipal  councils  at 
Warsaw  and  the  principal  cities  of  the  kingdom.  The  Marquis 
Vie'le'polski,  a  Pole  belonging  to  the  party  which  hoped  for  the 
re-establishment  of  Poland  by  Russia,  was  named  director  of 
public  worship  and  education. 

These  concessions  were  likely  to  reconcile  at  least  the  con- 
stitutional party ;  unhappily  their  effect  was  destroyed  by  the 
sudden  dissolution  of  the  Agricultural  Society,  in  which  the 
mass  of  the  people  had  placed  its  hopes,  and  the  demonstrations 
continued.  On  the  7th  of  April  a  crowd  assembled  in  the 
square  of  the  Zamok  (castle  of  the  Viceroy)  to  demand  that  the 
edict  of  dissolution  should  be  withdrawn,  but  it  dispersed  with- 
out any  result  before  the  hostile  attitude  of  the  troops.  On  the 
8th  of  April  the  multitude  reappeared,  more  numerous  and  more 
violent,  shouting  that  they  wanted  a  country  ;  a  postilion,  who 
was  driving  a  postchaise,  played  on  his  cornet  the  favorite  air  of 
Dombrovski's  legions,  "  No,  Poland  shall  not  perish."  The 
crowd,  composed  in  great  part  of  women  and  children,  presented 
a  passive  resistance  and  invincible  vis  inertia,  on  which  the 
charges  of  cavalry  had  no  effect.  The  troops  then  had  recourse 
to  their  arms,  and  fifteen  rounds  of  shot  laid  200  dead  and  a 
large  number  of  wounded  at  the  feet  of  the  statue  of  the  Virgin. 
On  the  following  days  the  people  appeared  only  in  mourning,  in 
spite  of  the  prohibition  of  the  police.  This  uneasy  state  of 
things  was  prolonged  for  many  months.  On  the  10th  of  October 
a  Polish  and  a  Lithuanian  procession  celebrated  at  Hodlevo,  on 
the  Polo-Lithuanian  frontier,  the  four  hundreth  anniversary  of 
the  union  of  the  two  countries.  The  humanity  of  the  Russian 
commandant  allowed  the  f6te  to  be  held  without  the  effusion  of 
blood. 

The  Government  still  made  one  attempt  at  conciliation  when 
the  Emperor  appointed  Count  Lambert  as  Viceroy,  with  orders 
to  apply  the  reforms  decreed  in  March  1761,  but  the  effect  of 
his  nomination  was  weakened  by  the  presence  at  his  side  of  men 
devoted  to  the  policy  of  repression.  The  anti- Russian  party, 
besides,  had  not  disarmed.  On  the  15th  of  October,  on  the  an» 
niversary  of  Kosciuszko,  the  people  flocked  to  the  churches  of 
Warsaw ;  the  military  authorities  caused  the  churches  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  detachments,  without  seeing  that  the  inoffensive  in- 
habitants, alarmed  at  this  display,  would  refuse  to  leave  the 
churches,  and  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  drag  them  out  by 
force.  In  fact,  after  a  useless  blockade  that  lasted  a  day  and  a 
night,  up  to  four  in  the  morning,  the  soldiers  had  to  force  the 
cathedral,  and  carry  2000  people  to  the  fortress.  Count  Lam- 
bert loudly  complained  to  General  Gerstenszweig,  the  military 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  ij  I 

governor.  After  a  fierce  altercation  the  latter  blew  out  his 
brains,  and  Lambert  was  recalled. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Count  Luders,  who  began  a  period  of 
reaction,  and  a  certain  number  of  influential  Warsovians  were 
transported.  The  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  made  Viceroy  on 
the  8th  of  June,  1862,  again  tried  a  policy  of  reconciliation. 
Vie'lepolski,  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  address  to  the  Emperor, 
was  nominated  chief  of  the  civil  power.  Enthusiasts  attempted 
the  lives  of  Luders,  of  Vielepolski,  even  of  the  Grand  Duke,  and 
violent  men  profited  by  all  the  errors  of  the  Government  to  push 
things  to  extremity,  and  to  turn  its  good  intentions  against  it. 
The  Poles  of  Warsaw  committed  the  error  of  disquieting  Russia 
about  the  provinces  which  she  regarded  as  Russian,  and  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  empire ;  the  proprietors  did  not  content  them- 
selves with  demanding,  in  an  address  to  Constantine,  that  the 
government  of  Poland  should  be  Polish,  which  was  reasonable 
and  just,  but  insisted  that  the  Lithuanian  palatinates  should  be 
reunited  to  the  kingdom.  The  upper  classes  of  Podolia  express- 
ed the  same  wish  with  regard  to  that  province,  to  Volhynia  and 
the  Ukraine.  These  imprudences  caused  the  exile  of  Zamoiski 
and  the  arrest  of  the  Podolian  agitators.  All  understanding 
became  impossible ;  an  exercise  of  authority  precipitated  the  ex- 
plosion :  in  the  night  of  the  15th  of  January,  1863,  the  military 
government  laid  violent  hands  on  the  recruits. 

The  conscripts  who  had  escaped  from  the  police  formed  the 
nucleus  of  the  rebel  bands  which  promptly  appeared  at  Blonie 
and  at  Sie'rock.  The  war  could  no  longer  assume  the  great 
character  of  those  of  1794  or  of  183 1 ;  there  was  now  no  Polish 
army  to  struggle  seriously  with  that  of  Russia  :  it  was  a  little 
war  of  guerillas  and  sharpshooters,  who  could  nowhere  hold  their 
own  against  the  Russians,  but  who  plunged  into  the  thick  forests 
of  Poland,  and  concealed  themselves  there  only  to  appear  further 
on  and  harass  the  columns.  There  were  no  battles,  only  skir- 
mishes, the  most  serious  of  which  was  that  of  Vengrov,  on  the  6th 
of  February,  1863.  A  few  chiefs  made  themselves  names : 
among  these  were  Leo  Frankovski,  Sigismond  Padlevski,  Casimir 
Bogdanovitch,  Mielengki,  the  energetic  Bossak-Hauke  (who  was 
one  day  to  fall  under  the  French  flag  in  the  fields  of  Burgundy), 
the  French  Rochebrune  and  Blankenheim,  Mademoiselle  Pous- 
tovoijov,  Sierakovski  (ex-colonel  in  the  Russian  army,  who  was 
hanged  after  his  check  in  Lithuania),  the  priest-soldier  Magkie- 
vicz,  Narbutt  (son  of  the  historian),  Lelevel  (a  pseudonym 
adopted  by  a  Warsaw  workman),  and  Marian  Langievicz,  soon 
appointed  dictator,  but  who,  after  the  skirmishes  of  the  17th, 
18th,  and  19th  of  March,  was  driven  back  into  Gallicia,  and  de- 


87  2  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA . 

tained  there  by  the  Austrians.  The  secret  committee  of  insur- 
fection,  or  anonymous  government  of  Poland,  had  summoned 
the  peasants  to  liberty  and  the  enjoyment  of  property. 

The  exasperated  Russians  treated  the  towns  and  villages  con- 
cerned in  the  affair  with  great  cruelty.  The  village  of  Ibiany 
was  destroyed,  and  the  Polish  chiefs  taken  with  arms  in  their 
hands  were  shot  or  hanged.  General  Mouravief  in  Lithuania 
declared  that  it  was  "useless  to  make  prisoners."  Berg  in 
Poland,  Dlotovskoii  in  Livonia,  and  Annenkof  in  the  Ukraine, 
were  the  agents  of  rigorous  repression.  Felinski,  Archbishop  of 
Warsaw,  was  transported  into  the  interior  of  Russia,  as  a  punish- 
ment for  having  written  a  letter  to  the  Emperor. 

Europe   was  touched.     On   the  5th   of  January,   1863,  tne 
French  minister  Billault,  in  the  tribune  of  the  Corps  Legislatif, 
had  blamed  the  "  baseless  hopes  excited  in  the  minds  of  patriots, 
whose  powerless  efforts  could  only  bring  about  new  evils  " ;   he 
recommended   the    insurgents  to  the  clemency  of   Alexander. 
Then  France,  England,  and  Austria  decided  to  have  recourse  to 
diplomatic  intervention,  invited  the  other  Powers  who  had  signed 
the  Treaty  of  Vienna  to  join  in  their  efforts,  and  laid  before  the 
Russian  government  the  notes  of  April  1863,  which  invited  her 
to  put  an  end  to  the  periodical  agitations  of  Poland  by  a  policy  of 
conciliation.   On  June  17  the  three  Powers  proposed  a  programme 
with  the  following  conditions: — 1.  An  amnesty;  2.  The  estab- 
lishment of  a  national  representation  ;    3.  The  nomination  of 
Poles  to  public  offices ;  4.  The  abolition  of  restrictions  placed 
on  Catholic  worship ;  5.  The  exclusive  use  of  the  Polish  language, 
as  the  official  language  of  the  administration,  of  justice,  and 
of   education ;    6.  A   regular   and   legal   system   of   recruiting. 
This  intervention  of  the  Western  Powers,  which  was  supported 
by  no  military  demonstration,  was  rejected  by  the  famous  note 
of  Prince  Gortchakof,  Chancellor  of  the  empire,  and  the  idea  of 
a  European  conference  was  likewise  rejected.     Europe  found 
herself  powerless,  and  Napoleon  III.  had  to  content  himself  in 
his  speech  from  the  throne  with  the  declaration  that  the  treaties 
of  1815  were  "trampled  under  foot  at  Warsaw."     The  conduct 
of  Prussia  had  been  quite  different ;  she  had  concluded  with 
Russia  the  convention  of  the  8th  of  February,  1863,  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Polish  manifestations,  and  thus  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  that  Prusso-Russian  alliance  which  was  to  prove  so  use- 
ful to  her. 

This  insurrection  was  to  cost  Poland  dear.  The  last  remains 
of  her  autonomy  were  extinguished.  To-day  the  "  kingdom  "  is 
nothing  but  a  name,  and  the  country  has  been  divided  into  ten 
provinces   (1866).     The   Russian    language    has    replaced  the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


*73 


Polish  in  all  public  acts  ;  the  University  of  Warsaw  is  a  Russian 
university  ;  the  primary,  secondary,  and  superior  education  all 
lend  their  aid  to  the  work  of  denationalization.  Poland  lost  her 
institutions  without  obtaining  the  benefit  of  those  of  Russia — the 
zemstva,  the  jury,  and  the  new  tribunals.  As  the  Government 
held  the  nobles  responsible  for  the  insurrection,  it  therefore 
markedly  favored  the  peasants,  authorizing  them  to  "  enter  into 
full  and  entire  possession  of  the  lands  which  they  held."  An 
oukaze  of  the  10th  of  December,  1865,  rendered  the  sale  of 
confiscated  and  sequestrated  property  imperative,  and  Russians 
alone  might  be  purchasers. 

Finland,  on  the  contrary,  had  all  her  privileges  confirmed. 
In  1863,  Alexander  convoked  the  diet  of  the  grand  duchy,  the 
second  that  had  been  held  since  the  annexation  to  the  empire. 
The  German  nobility  of  the  Baltic  provinces,  more  docile  and 
more  politic  than  that  of  Poland,  were  not  disturbed.  The 
University  of  Dorpat  remained  a  German  university  ;  the  Govern- 
ment only  took  measures  to  protect  the  language  and  religion  of 
the  empire  against  the  propagation  of  the  German  tongue  and  of 
the  Protestant  religion.  The  bold  demands  of  the  Slavophil 
Iouri  Samarine,  in  his  '  Russian  Frontiers,'  and  the  lively  po- 
lemic sustained  against  him  by  the  Baltic  writers  Schirren,  Wii- 
helm  von  Bock,  Julius  Eckart,  and  Sternberg,  did  not  lead  to  any 
important  changes  in  the  three  governments  of  Livonia,  Cour- 
land,  and  Esthonia. 


INTELLECTUAL    MOVEMENT  ;  MATERIAL  PROGRESS  ;    MILITARY    LAW. 

The  Russian  agitation  began  simultaneously  with  the  Polish 
troubles.  At  the  beginning  it  seemed  associated  with  the 
Polish  movement.  The  students  of  St.  Petersburg  openly 
sympathized  with  the  Warsaw  anniversaries  ;  and  the  students 
of  Kazan  attended  the  funeral  of  Andrew  Petrof,  an  insur- 
gent peasant.  The  augmentation  of  the  cost  of  study  in 
the  provincial  universities,  the  prohibition  of  meetings,  prom- 
enades, deputations,  libraries,  and  students'  conferences, 
brought  about  troubles  which  ended  in  the  universities  of 
the  two  capitals  being  closed  and  numerous  arrests  being 
made.  Then  came  addresses  from  the  assemblies  of  nobles  : 
that  of  Tver  had  in  1862  requested  the  abolition  of  privileges, 
and  the  convocation  of  a  national  assembly  ;  in  that  of  Toula 
a  meeting  of  the  States-general  was  discussed.  Events  in  Poland 
soon  gave  the  current  of  ideas  a  new  direction.  The  Moscow 
Gazette,  under  M.  Katkof,  seized  the  leadership  of  opinion,     j£ 


*74 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


awakened  the  national  Russian  sentiment  against  the  demands 
of  Poland,  and  signified  to  her  that  nothing  now  remained  to  her 
"  but  to  unite  her  aspirations  with  those  of  Russia,  and  to  inoc- 
ulate herself  with  the  principles  which  have  been  elaborated,  and 
elaborate  themselves  in  the  political  development  of  the  Russian 
people."  It  provoked  demonstrations  in  honor  of  Mouravief, 
glorified  his  energetic  and  pacific  measures  in  Lithuania,  and 
actually  ascribed  the  numerous  fires  of  1862  to  Polish  emissa- 
ries. By  making  itself  the  advocate  of  Russian  nationality,  the 
press  gained  unexpected  freedom,  which  was  also  exacted  by 
M.  Katkof,  even  from  the  ministers.  He  was  the  man  of  the 
new  state  of  things,  as  Hertzen  had  been  that  of  the  liberal 
movement  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign.  The  attempt  of 
Karakozof  upon  the  life  of  the  Emperor  in  the  Summer  Garden 
in  1866,  made  in  the  name  of  the  Russian  revolutionaries,  and 
that  of  Berezovski  at  Paris  in  1867,  in  the  name  of  the  Polish 
revolutionaries,  show  how  deeply  men's  minds  were  troubled. 
It  would  be  idle  to  insist  on  the  changes  of  ministers,  sometimes 
progressionists,  sometimes  reactionaries,  who  reflected  the  impres- 
sions produced  by  events  on  the  mind  of  the  Emperor.  Under 
a  government  which  on  the  whole  was  liberal,  Russia  still  con- 
tinued to  transform  herself.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  enumerate 
a  few  of  the  results. 

The  preceding  Government  had  only  bequeathed  to  Russia 
218  miles  of  railway;  to-day  the  Russian  lines,  fifty-three  in  num- 
ber, are  composed  of  10,384  miles  already  being  worked,  and 
1 145  miles  in  process  of  construction.  The  railways  unite  nearly 
all  the  large  towns  of  Russia  in  Europe  :  in  the  north  they  end 
at  Helsingfors  and  at  Vologda ;  in  the  east  at  Nijni-Novgorod, 
Saratof,  Samara,  with  a  line  projected  as  far  Orenburg  ;  in  the 
south  at  Kichenef,  Odessa,  Cherson,  Sebastopol,  and  Taganrog, 
with  a  line  projected  as  far  as  Vladikavkaze.  Russia  is  placed 
in  communication  with  the  West  bv  means  of  the  lines  of  St. 

J 

Petersburg  and  Berlin,  Warsaw  and  Berlin,  Warsaw  and  Vienna, 
and  Kichenef  and  Iassy.  The  Caucasian  line  already  unites  Poti 
on  the  Black  Sea  toTiflis  ;  it  will  be  prolonged  as  far  as  Bakou 
on  the  Caspian.  The  Siberian  railway  is  at  present  under  con- 
sideration. The  four  seas,  the  great  lakes,  the  rivers  and  canals 
of  Russia,  are  furrowed  by  numerous  steamboats.  The  telegraph 
and  the  post,  of  which  the  cost  has  been  lowered,  put  the  empire 
in  rapid  and  regular  communication  with  the  whole  world. 

Trade  has  also  greatly  developed.  "  The  people  are  begin- 
ning to  move,"  writes  Mr.  Herbert  Barry,  "  and  many  manufac- 
tories are  in  course  of  construction.  The  Russians  are  clever  at 
tU  handicrafts.     An  Englishman,  the  director  of  a  paper  factory 


HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  275 

which  I  was  astonished  to  find  in  the  middle  of  the  Oural  Moun- 
tains, told  me  that  in  England  many  years  of  apprenticeship  were 
needed  to  make  a  good  paper-worker,  but  that  a  Russian  learnt 
as  much  in  three  months  as  an  Englishman  in  three  years." 
The  branches  of  commerce  which  have  prospered  the  most  are 
the  manufactures  of  cotton  and  silk,  metallurgy,  steel,  &c.  Numer- 
ous banks  have  been  started,  even  in  some  of  the  most  remote 
towns  of  the  empire. 

Primary  education  leaves  more  to  be  desired  than  that  of  any 
other  country  in  Europe.  Russia,  with  her  9  or  10  per  cent,  of 
people  who  can  read,  is  below  even  Austria,  which  only  reckons 
29  per  cent.  In  France  the  average  is  77  per  cent.  Thanks 
to  the  efforts  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  and  the 
Minister  of  War  in  his  regimental  schools,  the  average  is  slowly 
but  surely  rising.  Primary  education  is  more  advanced  in  Po- 
land because  of  the  efforts  of  the  Government;  in  the  Baltic 
provinces  and  in  Finland,  because  of  the  Protestant  culture  ;  in 
Central  Russia,  because  of  the  industrial  influences.  In  187 1 
the  minister  Tolstoi,  in  his  report  to  the  Emperor,  enumerates 
24,000  schools  attended  by  875,000  scholars,  and  424  superior 
primary  schools,  attended  by  27,830  scholars. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1872,  there  existed  126  gymnasia  and 
32  progymnasia,  including  42,791  pupils.  At  this  same  date  M. 
Tolstoi  had  issued  an  order  to  introduce  or  confirm  the  study  of 
Greek  and  Latin  in  these  establishments.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  regulation  of  the  12th  of  May,  1873,  instituted  practical 
schools  for  the  teaching  of  professions. 

In  1876  the  eight  universities  of  the  empire  (St.  Petersburg, 
Moscow,  Kharkof,  Kazan,  Kief,  Dorpat,  New  Russia  or  Odessa, 
founded  in  1864,  and  Warsaw,  founded  in  1869)  reckoned  5466 
students  and  457  free  pupils.  Amongst  the  students  1325  were 
scholars. 

To  the  educational  institutions  for  the  daughters  of  the  no- 
bility, established  by  Catherine  II.  and  developed  by  Maria 
Feodorovna,  wife  of  Paul,  were  added  seminaries  of  a  kind  more 
appropriate  to  the  new  needs,  and  where  young  girls  of  all 
classes  are  received.  There  are  the  female  gymnasia  and  progym- 
nasia,— a  kind  of  lyceums  for  girls,  where  boarders  are  not 
admitted.  The  earliest  of  these  schools  were  founded  under 
the  auspices  of  the  present  Empress,  on  the  basis  of  the  4th 
section  of  the  imperial  chancery.  They  are  26  in  number — 6  at 
St  Petersburg,  5  at  Moscow,  15  in  the  provinces.  The  Minister 
of  Public  Instruction  had  in  his  turn  created,  in  1871,56  gymna- 
sia and  130  progymnasia  on  the  same  model,  attended  by  23,404 
pupils.     Nowhere  in  Europe  has  such  a  vast  development  been 


276  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

given  to  the  scientific  education  of  young  girls,  and  nowhere 
have  they  been  given  such  easy  access  to  liberal  careers,  and  to 
Government  employments,  posts,  telegraphs,  &c.  In  1875,169 
lady  students  followed  the  courses  of  surgery  and  medicine  in 
the  University  of  St.  Petersburg. 

Periodical  publications  have  enormously  increased  since  the 
Crimean  war.  There  exist  at  present  about  472  newspapers,  of 
which  377  are  in  the  Russian  language.  At  St.  Petersburg  are 
published  the  Golos,  which  has  the  largest  circulation ;  the 
Gazette  de  St.  Petersbourg ;  the  Gazette  de  la  Bourse,  which 
sympathized  with  France  in  the  war  of  1870;  the  Monde  Russe, 
which  has  had  some  military  discussion  with  the  Invalide ; 
and  the  New  Era,  devoted  to  Slav  interests :  at  Moscow 
the  Gazette  de  Moscou,  which  has  not  ceased  to  belong  to 
the  university,  has  passed  into  the  editorship  of  M.  Katk- 
of.  Amongst  the  reviews  which  are  of  general  interest,  we 
may  enumerate  the  Messager  d' 'Europe  of  M.  StasiouleVitch,  the 
Messager  Russe  of  M.  Katkof,  the  Citoyen,  the  Annales  de  la 
Patrie,  and  the  Dielo  (Action),  an  advanced  organ.  Others 
have  a  specially  historic  character ;  such  are  the  Archive  Russe 
of  M.  Barte'nief,  the  Antiquiie  Russe,  the  Russe  Ancienne  et  Nou- 
velle,  and  the  Recueil  de  la  Socie'te'  Imperiale  d'Histoire  Russe, 
started  in  1867. 

The  present  time  is  remarkable  for  its  literary  activity.  We 
can  only  quote  names:  in  the  novels  of  manners,  MM.  Tour- 
guenief,  Pisemski,  Dostoievski,  Gontcharof,  Melnikof,  Stebnitski, 
Boborikine,  Madame  Krestovski,  and  the  Little  Russian  Marko- 
Vovtchok  ;  in  historical  novels,  MM.  Alexis  Tolstoi  ('  Le  Prince 
Se're'brannyi,  ou  Ivan  le  Terrible'),  Leo  Tolstoi  ('  La  Guerre  et 
la  Paix,'  a  study  of  the  Napoleonic  wars),  and  Sahlias  ('  Les 
Compagnons  de  Pougatchef)  ;  in  satirical  novels,  the  dreaded 
Chtchedrine  ;  in  play  writing,  MM.  Ostrovski,  Potiekhine,  and 
Solohoup;  and  for  historical  dramas,  Mei,  A.  Tolstoi  ('La 
Mort  d'lvan  le  Terrible'),  and  Averkief  ('  Vassili  l'Aveugle'). 

Among  the  historians  must  be  cited  Pogodine  ('  Russia  up  to 
the  Invasion  of  the  Tatars  '),  Kostomarof  ('  Historical  Mono- 
graphs and  Researches,'  '  History  of  the  Fall  of  Poland,'  « His- 
tory of  Russia  in  Biographies '),  Solovief  ('  History  of  Russia 
from  the  most  ancient  Times,'  twenty-six  volumes,  as  far  as 
Catherine  II.),  Ilovai'ski  ('  The  Origins  of  Russian  History,' 
*  The  Diet  of  Grodno '),  Oustrielof  ('  History  of  Peter  the 
Great'),  Zabieline  (  '  Private  Life  of  the  Tzars,  the  Tzarinas,  and 
the  Russian  People'),  Bogdanovitch  (  '  History  of  Alexander  I.,' 
and  the  «  History  of  the  War  in  the  East '),  Milioutine  ('  Cam- 
paign  of    1799'),    Galitsyne   ('Universal    Military     History'), 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  277 

P«£karski  ('  Science  and  Literature  under  Peter  the  Great '), 
Pypine  ('  Progress  of  Ideas  under  Alexander  I.'),  Kovalevski, 
Korff,  and  Popof  ('Epoch  of  Alexander  I.').  MM.  Sreznevski, 
Afanasief,  Rybnikof,  Kirieevski,  Bezsonof,  Hilferding,  Oreste 
Miller,  and  Bouslaief  have  collected  or  illustrated  precious 
monuments  of  popular  literature. 

The  artistic  movement  likewise  took  more  breadth  and  va- 
riety. The  composers  Tchaikovski,  Sierof,  Dorgomyjski,  and  Ru- 
bistein  ;  the  landscape-painter  A'ivazovski ;  the  portrait-painters 
Tropinine,  Kharlamof,  and  Zarenko;  the  painters  of  history,  Mak- 
hovski,  Semigradski,  Gay,  and  Flavitski;  the  painters  oigenre, 
or  of  battles,  Sterenberg,  Verechtchaghine,  Repine,  &c. ;  and 
the  sculptors  Antakolski,  Kamenski,  and  Pime'nef,  have  acquired 
a  European  reputation.  In  1862  M.  Mikiechine  unveiled  the 
monument  of  Novgorod,  and  in  1874  the  statue  of  Catherine  II., 
at  St.  Petersburg,  surrounded  by  the  great  men  of  her  time.  At 
Moscow  the  magnificent  Church  of  the  Saviour,  projected  by 
Alexander  I.,  is  being  finished  after  the  plan  of  M.  Tonn. 

The  tradition  of  the  great  scientific  voyages  has  been  con- 
tinued by  Baer,  Middendorff,  Maximovitch,  Liitke,  Helmersen, 
Schrenk,  and  Schmidt.     Ethnography  and  philology  can  count 
some    illustrious    names :    Castren,   Sjoegren,    Schiefner,    Beth- 
linjk,    Dorn,     Kunik,     Lerch,     Wiedmann,    Radlow,    Kanikof, 
Brosset,  Storch,  and  Kceppen.     In  natural  science  we  must  men- 
tion Brandt,  Gappert,  Borchtchof,  Ovsiannikof,  Kokcharof,  &c; 
in  physics,  Jacobi,   Kuppfer,  Kaemtz,  and  Lenz  ;  in  chemistry, 
Engelhardt,  Fritzsche,  and  Chichkof ;  in  astronomy,  Savitch  and 
Strube ;    in  mathematics,   Ostrogradski,   Bouniakovski,   Somof, 
Tchebychef,  Forsch,  and  Maievski.     The  Geographical  Society 
has  rendered  immense  services  ;  MM.  Sossnovski,  Kostenko, 
Fedchenzo,  and  PrjeValski  have  explored  Central  Asia. 

At  last  Russia  has  been  able  to  invite  learned  Europe  to  her 
international  gatherings — to  the  Ethnographical  Congress  of 
Moscow  in  1867,  the  Statistical  Congress  of  St.  Petersburg  in 
1872,  the  archaeological  meetings  of  St.  Petersburg,  Moscow, 
Kief,  and  Kazan  (1869-1877),  and  the  Congress  of  Orientalists 
of  St.  Petersburg  in  1876. 

The  novel  situation  in  which  Europe  has  been  placed  by  the 
development  of  the  Prussian  military  power  has  obliged  the 
empire  of  the  Tzars  to  reform  its  military  system  also.  This 
has  been  provided  for  by  the  law  of  1873,  which  orders  that  all 
Russian  subjects,  without  distinction  of  condition  or  nationality, 
shall  be  forced  to  submit  to  the  conscription.  Now  it  is  im- 
possible to  call  out  every  year  676,000  men,  reckoning  from  the 
class  of  1874;  hardly  a  third  of  tnis  number  march  under  the 


278  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

standards.  The  educated  conscript  can,  if  the  lot  falls  on  him, 
obtain  in  four  ways  a  reduction  of  his  six  years'  term  of  service. 
If  he  has  received  the  superior  education,  he  only  serves  six 
months  ;  if  he  has  received  the  secondary  course  of*nstruction 
at  the  gymnasia,  eighteen  months ;  if  he  has  passed  through  the 
primary  superior  schools,  three  years ;  if  through  the  primary 
school,  four  years.  This  law  has,  therefore,  the  character  of  a 
law  of  social  equality,  and  offers,  besides,  a  premium  on  educa- 
tion. The  time  can  be  abridged  still  further  by  voluntarily 
forestalling  the  conscription.  The  Russian  army  is  divided  into 
the  regular  army,  the  reserve  troops,  and  the  irregular  corps. 
It  comprises  1,200,000  men,  a  number  which  Peter  the  Great 
had  never  dreamed  of.  In  1867  Russia  adhered  to  the  Conven- 
tion of  Geneva  for  the  relief  of  the  wounded. 


CONQUEST  IN  ASIA — EUROPEAN  POLICY. 

The  power  of  Russia  continues  to  extend  in  Asia.  The 
Crimean  war  had  lent  new  strength  to  the  Circassian  insurrection ; 
but  the  seizure  of  Vedeni,  the  fortified  residence  of  Schamyl, 
in  1858,  was  a  mortal  blow  to  his  rule.  In  1859,  he  was  be- 
seiged  in  his  castle  of  Gounib,  and  was  forced  to  surrender  to 
Prince  Bariatinski,  the  pacifier  of  the  Caucasus.  The  emigra- 
tion of  the  mountaineers,  encouraged  by  England  from  hostile 
feelings  to  Russia,  rendered  the  latter  on  the  contrary  the  service 
of  relieving  the  country  of  the  most  turbulent  elements,  and  of 
making  room  for  colonization.  The  conquest  was  secured  by 
numerous  fortresses  and  strategic  routes,  like  that  from  Vladi- 
kavkaze  to  Tiflis.  The  Russian  element,  especially  in  the  north 
of  the  Caucasus  and  in  the  towns,  has  struck  deeper  roots. 

Turkestan  is  a  sandy  region  traversed  by  the  Syr  Daria  and 
the  Amou-Daria  (the  Jaxartes  and  Oxus  of  the  ancients)  on  their 
way  to  empty  themselves  into  the  Sea  of  Aral.  These  two  rivers 
take  their  rise  in  the  chain  of  the  Bolor  Mountains,  on  the  other 
slope  of  which  flow  the  Kashgar  and  the  Jarkent,  tributaries  of 
the  Tarim,  which  runs  in  its  turn  into  Lake  Lob. 

To  the  north  of  the  Jaxartes  are  the  encampments  of  tha 
Kirghiz ;  on  the  banks  of  the  Caspian  wander  tribes  of  TurKO- 
mans.  On  the  Upper  Jaxartes  the  khanate  of  Khokand  is  sit- 
uated, with  its  capital  Khokand,  and  the  principal  towns  of 
Turkestan,  containing  the  tomb  of  Achmet-Yasavi,  the  Mussul- 
man Apostle  of  Turkestan,  Tashkent,  Tchemkent,  Khodjend, 
Alexandria  Heskata,  or  the  last  Alexandria  founded  by  Alexander 
the  Great ;  on  the  Upper  Oxus,  the  khanate   of  Balkh,  capital 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


279 


Balkh  (the  ancient  Bactria,  the  cradle  of  our  race),  the  khanate 
of  Samarcand  (residence  of  the  famous  Tamerlane),  and  the 
khanate  of  Bokhara ;  on  the  Lower  Oxus,  the  khanate  of  Khiva, 
situated  in  a  fertile  oasis,  in  the  midst  of  sandy  deserts  ;  on  the 
Kashgar,  the  khanate  of  Kashgar,  including  also  Yarkand  (40,000 
souls),  a  powerful  State  founded  in  1864  by  the  bold  and  able 
Yakoub  Khan.  All  these  States  lie  on  the  commercial  route  to 
India  and  China;  and  the  English  have  always  looked  uneasily 
on  the  progress  of  the  Russians  in  these  regions. 

The  Russian  rule  in  Turkestan  was  founded  by  the  submis- 
sion of  the  Kirghiz  under  Nicholas  I.,  and  the  fall  of  their  Khan 
Khazimof  in  1844.  To  protect  these  new  subjects,  it  has  been 
necessary  since  1853  to  enter  upon  a  war  with  the  khanate  of 
Khokand,  a  war  signalized  by  the  capture  of  Ak-Masjid  by  Colonel 
Perovski,  who  gave  it  his  name.  In  i860  Colonel  Kolpakovski, 
with  800  men,  defeated  a  Khokandian  army  of  15,000  men  in 
the  defile  of  Urzun-Agatch  ;  in  1864,  Colonel  Verevkine  left 
Orenburg  and  seized  Turkestan,  whilst  Colonel  Tchernaief  left 
Siberia  and  subdued  Aulie-Ata.  The  two  columns  took  Tchem- 
kent  by  assault,  and  the  year  following  Tashkent,  a  town  with  a 
population  of  100,000  souls,  surrendered  to  2000  Russians. 

The  Bokharians  on  their  side  intervened  in  the  civil  wars  of 
Khokand,  and  ended  by  entering  into  conflict  with  the  Russians. 
Their  Emir,  whose  prestige  throughout  Central  Asia  was  great, 
was  vanquished  in  spite  of  the  frantic  attempts  of  the  Mollahs 
to  raise  a  holy  war,  in  two  battles — that  of  Irdjar  in  1866,  which 
brought  about  the  conquest  of  Samarcand,  and  that  of  Zera-Buleh 
in  1868,  which  led  to  the  treaty  of  the  5th  of  July.  By  this  treaty, 
the  Emir  of  Bokhara  ceded  to  the  Russians  the  khanate  of 
Samarcand,  and  paid  an  indemnity  of  two  millions.  Bokhara 
itself  would  have  been  annexed,  if  the  Russian  generals  had  not 
feared  to  weaken  their  conquests  by  extending  them.  Khokand, 
on  whose  throne  the  Russians  established  their/w/^/Khudayar. 
became  a  vassal  State. 

In  the  interval  (1867)  Alexander  II.  had  created  the  govern- 
ment of  Turkestan,  at  whose  head  he  placed  a  governor-general, 
a  sort  of  vice-emperor,  whose  pomp  and  magnificence  are  likely 
to  give  to  the  natives  a  high  idea  of  his  sovereign  the  White 
Tzar. 

The  Khan  of  Khiva,  in  the  midst  of  the  deserts  which  girdled 
his  States,  braved  the  power  of  the  Russians,  who  had  been  re- 
pulsed by  the  climate  in  1839.  He  reduced  their  merchants  to 
slavery,  and  in  1870  and  in  1871  sent  help  to  the  Kirghiz.  In 
1872  Colonel  Markozof  quitted  the  Caucasus  to  chastise  the 
Khan,  but  thirst  and  privations  decimated  his  little  troop,  and 


280  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

obliged  them  to  retreat.  In  1873,  three  columns  advanced  on 
Khiva,  from  three  different  sides :  Markozof  from  the  shores  of 
the  Caspian,  General  Verevkine  from  Orenburg,  and  Kaufmann, 
general-in-chief,  from  Tashkent.  The  first  was  obliged  to  re- 
treat ;  the  third  suffered  greatly,  but  ended  by  entering  Khiva, 
which  Verevkine,  however,  had  already  reached.  The  vanquished 
Khan  acknowledged  himself  vassal  of  the  White  Tzar ;  the 
portion  of  his  States  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Oxus  was  annexed  ; 
the  navigation  of  the  river  was  reserved  exclusively  to  the 
Russians  ;  extensive  commercial  privileges  were  secured  to  their 
merchants  ;  their  quarrels  with  the  natives  were  to  be  judged  by 
the  nearest  Russian  authority  ;  a  council  of  government,  com- 
posed of  Khivian  dignitaries  and  Russian  officers,  was  to  assist 
the  Khan.  A  contribution  of  2,200,000  roubles  exhausted  his 
remaining  resources  :  it  was  a  disguised  annexation.  Only  the 
fear  of  a  conflict  with  England,  a  consequence  which  was  averted 
by  the  mission  of  Count  Schouvalof  to  London,  prevented  the 
reduction  of  Khiva  to  the  condition  of  a  Russian  province. 

The  Russian  policy,  like  that  of  the  English  in  Hindostan, 
avoided  public  annexations,  and  allowed  the  situations  created 
by  its  victories  to  ripen.  Khudayar,  Khan  of  Khokand,  had 
been  forced  in  1873  and  1874  to  fight  his  revolted  subjects,  who 
were  exasperated  by  his  submission  to  the  "  infidels."  In  1875 
another  and  more  general  revolt  took  place  ;  and  abandoned 
even  by  his  two  sons,  who  joined  the  insurgents,  he  quitted  his 
capital  with  his  harem  and  his  treasures,  and  established  him- 
self at  Orenburg.  Khokand  was  annexed.  It  is  a  State  sixty 
leagues  long  by  thirty  broad,  and  wonderfully  fertile.  The 
difficulties  of  the  Khan  of  Khiva  with  his  subjects,  who  despised 
him  for  his  submissiveness,  were  not  less.  Deprived  of  part  of 
the  tribute  that  he  collected  from  the  Turkomans  (declared 
Russian  subjects  in  1875),  he  entreated  the  following  year  to  be 
allowed  to  exchange  his  domains  for  a  pension  ;  the  reply  was 
not  given  immediately,  but  it  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

The  Kirghiz  and  the  Turkomans  being  subdued,  Khokand 
and  Samarcand  annexed,  Khiva  and  Bokhara  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  vassals,  only  one  prince  of  these  nations  made  head 
against  the  Russians,  and  this  was  Yakoub  Khan  of  Kashgar, 
the  protege  of  the  English,  who  had  persuaded  the  Sultan  of 
Constantinople  to  grant  him  the  title  of  Emir.  With  his  army 
of  40,000  men,  disciplined  by  Polish  or  Anglo-Indian  officers, 
with  his  arsenals  and  his  foundries,  he  prepared  to  defend  the 
passes  of  the  mountains.  In  1870  the  Russir.ns  had  anticipated 
him  by  occupying  the  Chinese  province  of  Khuldja,  whence  the 
rebellious  Mussulmans  had  expelled  the  troops  of  the  Celestial 
Empire,  and  which  Yakoub  coveted.     Russia  offered  to  hand  it 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA,  2&l 

over  to  China,  which  did  not  care  about  it,  and  meanwhile  it  was 
administered  by  the  Russians.  Their  policy  created  last  year 
(1876)  an  unexpected  difficulty  for  Yakoub ;  an  invasion  of 
Kashgar  by  the  Chinese  troops  is  imminent  (1877,)  if  it  is  not 
already  accomplished.  Yakoub  Khan  died  this  year  (1877), 
leaving  to  his  successor  a  situation  which  is  gravely  comprom- 
ised. 

In  these  countries,  for  centuries  devastated  and  dishonored 
by  Mussulman  fanaticism,  by  wars  between  the  khans,  and  by 
traffic  in  slaves,  the  Russians  appear  as  the  soldiers  of  civiliza* 
tion,  and  bring  with  them  a  more  humane  and  equitable  rule.* 
Following  on  the  banks  of  the  Ovus  and  Jaxartes  the  traces  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  they  complete  the  revenge  of  the  Iranian 
race  against  the  Touranian  peoples  who  invaded,  with  Genghis 
Khan,  semi-Greek  Bactria,  and  ruined  the  ancient  Macedonian 
colonies.  They  do  not  conquer ;  they  only  colonize.  "  All 
these  enterprises,"  says  M.  Cucheval-Clarigny,  "  will  profit 
civilization  at  the  same  time  that  they  consolidate  the  Russian 
power ;  but  the  chief  strength  of  the  latter  lies  in  the  qualities 
which  make  the  Russian  soldier  the  most  admirable  instrument 
of  conquest  and  colonization.  Docile  as  well  as  brave,  easily 
contented,  supporting  without  complaint  all  fatigues  and  priva- 
tions, and  ready  for  everything,  the  Russian  soldier  constructs 
roads,  clears  canals,  and  re-establishes  the  ancient  aqueducts. 
He  makes  the  bricks  with  which  he  builds  the  forts,  and  the 
barracks  which  he  inhabits ;  he  fabricates  his  own  cartridges 
and  projectiles  ;  he  is  a  mason,  a  metal-founder,  or  carpenter, 
according  to  the  need  of  the  hour,  and  the  day  after  he  is  dis- 
missed he  contentedly  follows  the  plough.  With  such  instru- 
ments at  her  disposal,  the  Russian  power  will  never  give  way : 
a  few  years  will  suffice  to  render  final  the  conquest  of  any  land 
on  which  she  has  set  her  foot. 

At  the  other  extremity  of  Asia,  General  Mouravief  signed  in 
1858  with  the  Court  of  Pekin  the  Treaty  of  AKgoun,  which  se- 
cured to  Russia  all  the  right  bank  of  the  river  Amour,  a  territory 
of  1278  square  miles,  which  now  forms  the  province  of  the 
Amour  and  the  maritime  province.  Japan  had  already  ceded 
the  southern  part  of  the  island  of  Saghalian.  The  steamboats 
of  the  Amour  Company  already  plough  the  waters  of  the  river, 
and  place  Russia  in  direct  communication  with  San  Francisco 
and  the  Pacific  Isles. 

By  the  treaty  of  1867  Russia  sold  to  the  United  States  her 
American  possessions,  thus  drawing  closer  the  bonds  which 
unite  her  to  the  great  republic. 

*  The  kindly  character  of  Russian  colonization  "  in  the  Circassian  inaiy 
Rer"  has  been  described  by  Mr.  Schuyler. — Translator. 


*8s  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

The  European  policy  of  Russia  during  this  period  offers  re- 
sults which  are  more  debatable  than  her  Asiatic  policy.  In  1856 
Prince  Alexander  Gortchakof  succeeded  old  Count  Nesselrode 
as  Chancellor  of  the  Empire.  In  one  of  his  earliest  circulars 
he  thus  characterized  the  attitude  imposed  on  Russia  by  the 
consequences  of  the  Eastern  war :  "  Russia  does  not  sulk,  she 
collects  her  forces."  At  the  Conferences  of  Paris  there  had 
been  a  visible  rapprochement  between  this  country  and  France, 
which  had  already  grown  cold  to  her  old  ally,  Austria.  Russia 
allowed  Italy  to  emancipate  herself,  while  drawing  her  own  con- 
clusions about  the  emancipation  of  the  Christians  in  the  East. 
After  having  protested  against  the  dispossession  of  the  Italian 
princes,  she  ended  by  recognizing  the  new  kingdom.  She  ap- 
plauded the  French  occupation  of  Syria,  which  she  would  have 
even  wished  to  be  more  important  and  more  prolonged.  France 
in  her  turn  favored  the  demands  of  the  Roumanians,  Servians, 
and  Montenegrins  against  Turkey,  and  received  graciously  the 
observations  of  Prince  Gortchakof  on  the  "  wretched  and  pre- 
carious situation  "  of  the  Christians  of  Bosnia,  the  Herzegovina 
and  Bulgaria. 

The  diplomatic  demonstrations  of  France  in  1863,  apropos 
of  Polish  affairs,  destroyed  the  growing  intimacy  of  the  two 
States,  and  threw  Russia  into  the  Prussian  alliance.  To  main- 
tain this  the  Russian  Chancellor  made  irreparable  sacrifices  to 
Bismark.  In  1864  Russia  allowed  Denmark  to  be  crushed, 
when  she  lost  the  duchies  of  the  Elbe.  In  1866  she  permitted 
Prussia  not  only  to  expel  Austria  from  the  Germanic  Confeder- 
ation, but  to  dethrone  the  reigning  houses  of  Hanover,  Nassau, 
and  Cassel,  more  or  less  related  to  the  imperial  house  of  Russia. 
Those  of  Darmstadt,  Baden,  and  Wurtemberg,  which  had  given 
empresses  to  Russia,  were  subordinated,  so  as  to  constitute 
Germany,  formerly  inoffensive,  into  a  formidable  military 
Power,  which  holds  on  the  Baltic,  the  Vistula,  and  the  Danube 
interests  diametrically  opposed  to  those  of  Russia. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Bestoujef-Rioumine,  the  Chan- 
cellor of  Elizabeth,  finding  the  Prussia  of  Frederick  II.  too 
powerful,  and  the  annexation  of  Silesia  disquieting  for  Russia, 
fought  the  Seven  Years'  War  to  "diminish  the  forces"  of  the 
ambitious  neighbor.  Did  not  Alexander  I.  dare  all  the  power 
of  Napoleon  for  the  sake  of  Oldenburg  and  the  Hanseatic  towns  ? 
Already  in  1867,  in  the  new  Germany,  an  agitation  was  begun 
about  the  so-called  German  provinces  of  Russia.  The  demands 
ot  the  Baltic  writers  found  an  echo  in  the  public  meetings  and 
in  the  Berlin  press,  and  M.  Kattner  dedicated  to  the  German 
army  his  book  on  the  '  Mission  of  Prussia  in  the  East.'  Russia 
had  hoped  for    the  support  of    new  Germany  in  its  Eastern 


HISTORY  OP  RUSSIA.  -S3 

policy,  "  but,"  wrote  M.  Benedetti,  "  any  conflict  in  the  East 
would  put  the  German  Chancellor  in  the  power  of  Russia,  and 
he  will  try  to  prevent  it.  This  was  proved  in  the  Greeco-Turkish 
difference  last  year.  Russia  is  a  card  in  his  game  for  events 
that  may  take  place  on  the  Rhine,  and  he  holds  it  to  be  neces- 
sary not  to  invert  the  roles,  not  to  become  himself  a  card  in  the 
game  of  St.  Petersburg." 

fn  June  1870  the  sovereigns  of  Prussia  and  Russia  had  an 
interview  at  Ems  ;  on  the  gth  of  July  Prince  Gortchakof  said  to 
the  English  ambassador  "  that  Russia  did  not  feel  at  all  alarmed 
at  the  power  of  Prussia."  This  confidence  was  to  be  put  to  a 
new  proof.  In  July  1870  the  Franco-German  war  broke  out, 
which  was  to  end  by  overthrowing  the  European  equilibrium,  for 
the  benefit  of  Prussia.  The  menacing  attitude  of  Russia  forced 
Austria  to  maintain  her  neutrality,  and  this  neutrality  carried 
with  it  that  of  Italy.  Russian  diplomacy  weighed  in  the  same 
manner  upon  Denmark,  whose  royal  house  had  given  in  1866  a 
princess  in  marriage  to  the  Tzarevitch.  France  found  herself 
isolated  in  Europe.  Russia  not  only  prevented  the  formation 
of  "  the  league  of  neutrals,"  but  by  diplomatic  means  discour- 
aged the  collective  intervention  of  Europe.  On  the  3rd  of 
September  the  Emperor,  on  hearing  of  his  uncle's  victory  at 
Sedan,  drank  his  health,  and  broke  the  glass  to  give  his  toast 
more  solemnity.  No  doubt  he  counselled  his  uncle  to  be 
moderate,  "  but,"  says  M.  Sorel,  "  this  intimate  and  sympathetic 
exchange  of  private  letters  did  not  for  one  moment  alter  the 
friendship  of  the  two  sovereigns.  The  King  of  Prussia  received 
the  observations  of  his  nephew  without  impatience  ;  and  the 
Tzar,  although  his  observations  never  had  any  effect,  was  never 
affronted  by  the  refusals  of  his  uncle." 

The  nation  did  not  contemplate  the  fall  of  France  and  the 
overthrow  of  Europe  with  the  same  eyes  as  the  Government. 
"  The  public  sentiment  towards  France,"  writes  the  representa- 
tive of  the  United  States,  "  is  perhaps  still  more  friendly  since 
the  recent  successes  of  Prussia.  The  officers  of  the  army  are, 
it  is  said,  almost  unanimous  in  the  desire  for  a  war  against 
Prussia.  I  know  many  occasions  on  which  toasts  have  been 
drunk  to  the  ruin  of  the  Germans  and  of  Fritz.  The  journals 
daily  publish  articles  showing  the  danger  which  will  result  to 
Europe  from  the  growth  and  consolidation  of  a  military  Power 
like  that  of  Northern  Germany.  The  last  victories  of  Prussia 
have  called  attention  to  the  vulnerable  points  of  Russia,  in  case 
of  a  complete  victory  of  Prussia  ;  these  are  two — Poland,  and 
the  Baltic  provinces."  Subscriptions  were  everywhere  made  foi 
the  benefit  of  the  wounded  French,  and  the  news  of  the  smallest 
successes  of  France  excited  public  joy. 


a84  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

The  mission  of  M.  Thiers  at  St.  Petersburg,  in  September 
1870,  had  no  results  ;  and  this  check  caused  his  efforts  in 
Austria,  Italy,  and  England  to  remain  fruitless.  He  had  only 
received  soft  words  in  Russia,  amongst  others  the  remark  that 
"  the  former  enemy  of  France  would  do  more  for  her  than  her 
former  ally,  England."  In  reality,  the  Russian  policy,  while 
serving  Prussia,  intended  to  cajole  France,  so  as  to  attain  with 
more  certainty  the  end  of  its  efforts,  the  revision  of  the  Treaty 
of  1856.  On  the  29th  of  October  Prince  Gortchakof,  in  a 
circular  addressed  to  the  Powers  signing  the  treaty,  declared  that 
events  had  "  placed  the  imperial  cabinet  under  the  necessity  of 
examining  the  consequences  which  might  follow  for  the  political 
position  of  Russia."  He  demanded  the  revision  of  article  2, 
which  imposed  a  limitation  on  her  maritime  forces  in  the  Black 
Sea.  A  conference  was  held  in  London,  and  Russia  insisted 
that  the  French  Government  should  be  represented  there.  This 
was  an  indirect  opportunity  offered  to  the  new  republic  to  sub- 
mit her  quarrel  with  Prussia  to  the  examination  of  the  Powers. 
On  the  13th  of  March,  187 1,  the  French  ambassadors  in  London 
set  the  signature  of  France  to  the  revision  of  the  Treaty  of  1856, 
but  in  the  interval  his  country  had  been  forced  to  submit  to  the 
harsh  terms  of  the  Peace  of  Frankfort.  The  restoration  of  the 
German  empire  had  been  recognized  by  Russia  on  the  24th  of 
January,  187 1,  and  the  Tzar  had  granted  to  the  generals  of  the 
victorious  army  the  highest  marks  of  distinction.  The  princes 
Frederick  William  and  Frederick  Charles  already  bore  the  title 
of  Russian  field-marshals. 

After  the  fall  of  France,  the  Emperors  of  Russia  and  Ger- 
many, dragging  with  them  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  undertook  to 
constitute  what  is  called  the  alliance  of  the  three  emperors  for 
the  regulation  of  the  affairs  of  the  East  and  West.  The  Con- 
gress of  Berlin  in  1872,  the  journey  of  the  Emperor  William  to 
St.  Petersburg  in  1873,  and  frequent  interviews  between  the 
heads  of  the  otate,  made  the  good  understanding  between  them 
obvious  to  the  eyes  of  Europe. 

The  Russians  were  well  aware  of  all  that  Prussia  had  gained 
by  this  alliance  of  ten  years  with  Russia.  The  profits  secured 
to  the  latter  were  less  visible.  Prussia  had  acquired  provinces 
and  kingdoms,  fortified  harbors,  a  formidable  army,  and  was 
mistress  of  the  situation  ;  Russia  had  obtained  the  erasure  of 
the  article  which  limited  her  forces  on  the  Black  Sea. 

The  new  war  in  the  East  is  not  yet  a  matter  of  history.  We 
have  yet  to  wait  for  the  dino&mcnt.*    A  few  years  will  allow 

•larc. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  285 

many  great  events  to  be  related  with  certainty :  the  rising  in  the 
Herzegovina,  the  massacres  of  Bulgaria,  the  taking  up  arms  and 
defeat  of  Servia,  the  rapid  dethronement  of  two  Sultans,  the 
first  attempt  at  an  Ottoman  constitution,  the  weakness  of  Euro- 
pean diplomacy  in  the  Conference  of  Constantinople,  the  en- 
trance of  the  Russians  into  the  ancient  Principalities  and  their 
alliance  with  Roumania  and  Montenegro,  the  passage  of  the 
Danube  by  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  the  brilliant  surprise  of 
the  defiles  of  the  Balkan  by  General  Gourko,  the  bloody  battles 
round  Plevna,  the  vicissitudes  of  the  war  in  Asia,  and,  lastly,  the 
victory  of  Shipka,  the  occupation  of  Adrianople,  and  the  march 
of  the  Russians,  with  Skobelef  at  their  head,  on  Gallipoli  and 
Constantinople. 

Russia,  sketched  out  by  Rurik,  dispersed  after  Iaroslaf  the 
Great,  re-united  by  the  dynasty  of  the  Ivans,  Europeanized  by 
Peter  the  Great  and  Catherine  II.,  delivered  from  serfage  by 
Alexander  II.,  now  enters  into  a  new  phase  of  her  history.  The 
wars  of  to-day  have  their  consequences,  not  only  upon  the  ex- 
ternal relations  of  peoples,  but  also  upon  their  internal  develop- 
ment. The  foreign  policy  of  Russia,  in  spite  of  all  changes, 
has  never  allowed  itself  to  be  turned  from  the  three  aims  which 
she  has  followed  since  Ivan  the  Great — the  conclusion  of  the 
duel  with  the  Polo-Lithuanian  State  for  the  hegemony  of  the 
Slav  world  ;  the  struggle  with  her  Western  neighbors  to  secure 
the  freedom  of  the  Baltic  and  the  Black  Sea;  and  the  revenge 
for  the  Tatar  yoke,  whether  taken  on  the  Turanians  of  Central 
Asia  or  those  of  Constantinople.  In  the  interior  a  new  path  has 
been  opened  to  her  by  the  civilizing  reforms  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  by  the  emancipating  reforms  of  the  present  reign. 
After  having  conquered  her  place  among  the  European  States, 
she  has  to  secure  her  rank  among  free  nations.  Here  is  a  tra- 
dition which  deserves  following.  May  Russia  in  her  liberal 
schemes  display  even  more  logic,  resolution,  and  prudence  than 
in  her  diplomacy !  We  have  related  the  history  of  the  Russian 
State  ;  the  history  of  the  Russian  people  is  now  beginning. 
With  the  Russian  State  France  has  been  often  at  strife ;  her 
sympathies  with  Russia  are  growing  since  she  has  found  in  k%f- 
&  nation. 


286  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

ALEXANDER  II.,  ALEXANDER  III.,  AND  NICHOLAS  II.    (1877-1898). 

The  Russo-Turkish  War — The  Treaty  of  San  Stefano,  and  the  Con- 
gress of  Berlin — Nihilism  and  the  Tzar — Russia  in  the  East — 
What  the  Tzar  Wills. 

In  preceding  chapters  Russia's  defence  of  Christians  suf- 
fering under  Turkish  misrule  has  been  related.  The  war  of 
1827-28  was  the  result  of  aid  accorded  to  Greece  in  the  latter's 
struggle  for  independence,  while  the  Crimean  ostensibly  origi- 
nated in  Turkey's  attitude  toward  Christian  people  and  Chris- 
tian sites.  These  conflicts  were  followed  by  that  of  1877-78, 
the  primal  cause  of  which  has  been  credited  to  barbarities  in  the 
Danubian  provinces,  where  the  Moslems  were  strong  and 
the  Christians  weak.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Turkey,  rendered 
insolent  by  reason  of  anterior  successes,  grossly  ill-treated  there 
her  Christian  subjects.  Throughout  the  rural  districts  of  Ser- 
via,  Montenegro,  and  Herzegovina,  taxes  were  increased  to  such 
an  extent  and  were  extorted  with  such  rapacity  that  the  peas- 
antry, already  intolerably  oppressed,  found  it  impossible  to 
satisfy  the  demands  exacted  of  them. 

In  the  summer  of  1875  matters  culminated.  Herzegovina 
rebelled.  The  insurrection  which  then  ensued,  and  in  which, 
a  few  months  later,  Servia  and  Montenegro  joined,  was  pun- 
ished in  May  of  the  following  year  by  the  massacres  perpe- 
trated by  the  Bashi-Bazouks — the  Turkish  irregular  cavalry 
— on  unarmed  men,  women,  and  children,  and  which  became 
known  as  the  "Bulgarian  atrocities." 

The  report  of  these  massacres  occasioned  great  excitement 
throughout  Europe.  The  details  were  so  ghastly  and  revealed 
such  inhumanity  that  energetic  representations  were  addressed 
to  the  Porte  by  all  the  great  powers,  and  a  Conference  was  con- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  287 

voked  at  Constantinople  in  which  England,  France,  Germany, 
Austria,  Italy,  and  Russia  joined. 

After  several  sittings  the  Conference  finally  embodied  a 
series  of  reforms  and  concessions,  which  were  then  submitted 
to  the  Sultan,  who  promptly  and  unceremoniously  rejected  the 
proposals  therein  contained.  A  protocol,  subsequently  signed 
by  all  the  powers  on  March  31,  1877,  was  treated  in  a  similar 
manner. 

Three  weeks  later  Russia  declared  war  with  the  Porte,  and 
hostilities  at  once  ensued,  Russia  immediately  occupying  Rou- 
mania  and  eventually  crossing  the  Danube,  where  the  army  was 
joined  by  the  Tzar.  The  Turks  neither  resisted  the  occupation 
of  Roumania,  nor  did  they  effectually  oppose  the  passage  of  the 
Danube,  and  by  the  end  of  July  a  small  Russian  force  had  actu- 
ally crossed  the  Balkans.  But  the  aspect  of  the  campaign  was 
presently  changed  by  the  energy  of  Osman  Pasha,  who,  after 
inflicting  a  repulse  on  General  Krudener,  threw  himself  into 
Plevna,  an  open  town,  which  he  rapidly  intrenched  and  held 
against  the  invading  armies.  The  Russian  advance  was  stopped 
and  the  force  beyond  the  Balkans  receded,  intrenching  itself  in 
the  Shipka  Pass,  where  it  was  besieged  by  the  Turks.  For 
nearly  five  months  the  struggle  continued  on  these  lines,  the 
Russians  and  Roumanians  hurling  continued  attacks  on  Plevna, 
which  not  even  the  heroism  of  Skobeleff  could  render  success- 
ful against  the  gallant  resistance  of  Osman.  Finally,  the  place 
was  completely  invested,  Osman's  provisions  were  exhausted, 
and,  on  December  10,  he  attempted  to  break  his  way  through 
the  lines  of  the  enemy,  but  was  overwhelmed  and  forced  to 
capitulate  with  his  30,000  men,  he  himself  being  wounded  in 
the  action.  A  force  of  80,000  Russians  and  Roumanians  were 
then  disengaged,  the  Balkans  broken  through,  and  the  road  to 
Constantinople  open.  Meanwhile  the  war  in  Asia  had  also  been 
successful.  Mukthar  Pasha  had  been  defeated,  Ardohan  and 
Kars  had  fallen,  and  the  investment  of  Erzeroum  had  occurred. 

A  little  later  an  armistice  was  signed  which  resulted  in  the 
Treaty  of  San  Stefano.  Subsequently  modified  in  the  Congress 
Vol.  2  Russia  26 


288  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

of  Berlin,  through  the  provisions  then  arranged,  Roumania, 
Servia,  and  Montenegro  gained  their  independence.  Bulgaria 
was  divided;  the  old  province  of  that  name  between  the  Bal- 
kans and  the  Danube  being  erected  into  a  tributary  principality, 
while  the  new  province  of  Eastern  Roumelia  was  left  to  the 
Porte,  but  with  powers  of  self-government  and  certain  securi- 
ties against  oppression.  In  Asia,  Russia  gained  more  of  Ar- 
menia, together  with  the  long-coveted  port  of  Batoum ;  but  as 
a  guarantee  against  further  aggression  England  in  exchange 
for  Cyprus  agreed  to  support  Turkey  in  the  defence  of  her 
other  Asiatic  possessions.  In  the  campaign  of  which  these  ar- 
rangements were  the  result,  Russia  lost  nearly  100,000  men 
and  the  expense  incurred  was  not  less  than  $600,000,000. 

During  the  period  immediately  succeeding  the  termination 
of  this  war,  conditions,  if  peaceful  abroad,  were  threatening 
at  home.  The  spread  of  Nihilism  was  a  cause  of  great  inter- 
nal commotion,  and  attempts  on  the  life  of  the  Tzar  ensued 
which,  unfortunately,  were  at  last  successful.  In  cities  through 
which  despots  had  walked  unattended,  Alexander  II.  lived  in 
daily  peril.  On  April  14,  1879,  Solovieff,  a  schoolmaster,  shot 
at  him.  In  the  same  year  an  effort  was  made  to  blow  up  the 
Winter  Palace  in  which  he  resided;  and  later  an  effort  was 
made  to  wreck  a  train  in  which  he  was  journeying  from  Mos- 
cow to  St.  Petersburg.  Ultimately,  on  March  13,  1881,  struck 
by  a  bomb — the  explosion  of  which  killed  the  assassin — the 
emperor  perished. 

Alexander  II.  was  succeeded  by  Alexander  III.,  whose 
reign,  marked  by  further  Nihilistic  attempts,  by  famine,  by 
pestilence,  terminated  very  quietly  at  Lividia,  November  1, 
1894.  The  sceptre  was  then  taken  by  his  son,  Nicholas  II., 
whose  marriage  to  Princess  Alix  of  Hesse,  superb  coronation, 
peace  circular,  together  with  the  alliance  formed  by  his  gov- 
ernment with  that  of  France,  constitute  events  sufficiently  re- 
cent to  dispense  with  further  notice.  It  is  the  Empire  itself, 
its  progress-  and  policy,  which  remain  to  be  considered. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  289 


RUSSIA   IN    THE   EAST. 

The  growth  of  the  Russian  Empire  supplies  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  features  in  modern  history.  Consisting,  less 
than  four  centuries  ago,  of  the  Tzardom  of  Muscovy,  with  an 
area  of  37,000  square  miles,  it  includes  to-day  no  less  than 
8,660,282  square  miles — one-seventh  of  the  land  surface  of  the 
globe — and  of  this  enormous  territory  6,564,778  square  miles 
are  in  Asia.  This  vast  empire,  stretching  from  the  Baltic  to 
the  Pacific,  and  from  the  Polar  regions  to  Afghanistan,  is  but 
sparsely  inhabited,  the  density  of  population  in  the  Asiatic  do- 
minions being  only  3  per  mile,  while  that  of  the  whole  empire 
is  only  13  per  mile,  the  population  in  England  being  370.  In 
connection  with  this  disparity  the  question  naturally  occurs — 
How  does  it  come  about  that  an  empire  which  is  so  thinly  popu- 
lated should  constantly  try  to  add  to  its  territories?  The  ex- 
planation is  not  difficult  to  discover.  The  Russians  are  an 
agricultural  people,  and  have  a  natural  tendency  to  wander  in 
search  of  fresh  fields  as  the  fertility  of  their  own  lands  becomes 
impoverished.  And  thus  it  came  about  that,  early  in  the  his- 
tory of  Russia,  the  people  went  further  and  further  abroad, 
the  gradual  enlargement  of  the  empire  meeting,  up  to  a  cer- 
tain point,  with  no  dispute.  But  the  extensions  which  took 
place  gradually  brought  the  people  into  contact  with  new  races, 
and  when  they  confronted  Turkomans,  Mongolians,  and  the 
fierce  Asiatic  tribes,  conquest  of  a  less  peaceful  nature  than 
mere  progression  had  to  be  resorted  to,  if  only  to  prevent  bor- 
der warfare  and  constant  raids.  And  so,  while  the  people  spread 
further  afield  in  search  of  land,  and  the  merchants  followed 
in  search  of  trade,  Russia  was  forced  to  determine  in  what 
manner  she  should  deal  with  hostile  nations.  Her  option  nar- 
rowed into  a  choice  between  two  alternatives.  She  might  main- 
tain a  strong  force  along  her  boundaries,  or  she  might  conquer 
and  absorb.  Invariably  she  chose  the  latter  course,  and  so  by 
degrees  moved  across  Northern  Asia  and  into  the  heart  of  the 


290  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Continent.  As  a  result,  during  the  past  forty  years  the  terri- 
tories of  the  Tzar  have  become  doubled  in  extent. 

The  recent  growth  of  Russian  dominion  may  be  said  to 
date  from  1848,  when  Peroffsky  marched  on  Kazala  and  sub- 
jugated the  tribes  on  the  northern  shores  of  the  Caspian.  Then 
an  expedition  found  its  way  across  the  Steppes  and  seized 
Lower  Amoor,  an  acquisition  immediately  followed  by  the  tak- 
ing of  Ak  Musjid,  and  the  establishment  of  Fort  Peroffsky. 
The  Amoor  province,  comprising  the  whole  of  Northern  Man- 
churia, was  absorbed  in  1859.  The  Khanate  of  Turkistan  was 
added  to  the  Russian  Empire  in  1859.  Samarkand  was  seized 
in  1868.  Kuldja  was  occupied  in  1870.  Khiva  and  Bokhara 
were  taken  in  1873 ;  Khokand,  in  1875 ;  Merv,  in  1884,  and 
what  remained  of  Turkomania  in  1885.  Since  then  have  oc- 
curred the  Penjdeh  incident,  the  Pamirs  wrangle,  and  the 
aggression  on  Eastern  Turkistan.  In  short,  barring  Persia, 
Asiatic  Turkey,  and  Afghanistan,  the  whole  of  Western  Asia 
Russia  has  absorbed.  From  the  Urals  to  the  Pacific,  the  entire 
northern  half  of  the  Continent  is  hers.  In  addition,  she  gave 
a  suggestion  of  her  arms  by  taking  Saghalien  from  Japan,  by 
the  annexation  of  Manchuria,  and  by  the  founding  of  Vladivos- 
tok as  a  future  naval  base. 

These  successes  have  one  and  all  been  brought  about  by  a 
single  policy — that  of  expansion.  But  while  this  policy  is 
steadily  kept  in  view,  the  necessary  steps  are  cautiously  taken. 
Except  where  territory  lies  without  the  possibility  of  interna- 
tional complications  it  is  occupied  by  slow  degrees. 

The  successes  that  have  resulted  from  this  policy  are  due 
to  an  obvious — yet  generally  unconsidered — factor.  There 
is  in  Russia  no  government  to  come  in  or  go  out  at  the  will  of 
the  people.  There  are  no  ministers  to  reverse  what  their  pred- 
ecessors have  accomplished.  There  is  but  one  supreme  head, 
one  Autocrat  of  all  the  Russias.  Public  opinion  there  is  none. 
Individual  thought  allied  to  individual  action  is  as  impossible 
as  newspaper  criticism.  The  Tzar  wills :  such  is  the  formula 
by  the  aid  of  which  ideas  become  accepted  throughout  the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  291 

land.  What  the  Tzar  wills,  all  classes  will;  the  result  being 
that  no  year  passes  that  does  not  bring  some  gain  to  the  great 
empire,  great  in  extent,  great  in  ambitions,  and  greatly  served. 
Every  addition  goes  to  its  enlargement,  to  the  increase  of  its 
strength;  and  one  does  not  need  to  probe  the  philosophy  of 
history  to  understand  the  advantages  belonging  to  a  people 
who  fight  with  the  north  wind  at  their  back. 


292  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

REIGN    OF    NICHOLAS    II.    AND    THE    RUSSO-JAPANESE    WAR. 

The  Tzar's  Peace  Rescript — The  Universal  Peace  Conference — The 
Trans-Siberian  Railroad — The  Jews  and  the  Massacre  at  Kishineff 
' — Russia  in  the  Balkan  States — The  Russification  of  Finland — Rus- 
sian Revolutionists — Local  Self-Government — Excommunication  of 
Tolstoi  and  Religious  Revolution — Russia  in  the  Far  East — Port 
Arthur  and  Talienwan  Leased — The  Russo-Chinese  Bank — The 
Russian  Railway  in  Manchuria — The  Anglo-Russian  Agreement — 
The  Boxer  Movement — Occupation  of  Manchuria — Russo-Chinese 
Convention — Russia,  Corea,  and  Japan — The  Russo-Japanese  War 
— Naval  and  Land  Operations  of  the  First  Month  of  the  War. 


THE    TZAR  S    PEACE    RESCRIPT — THE    UNIVERSAL    PEACE    CONFER- 
ENCE  THE   TRANS-SIBERIAN   RAILROAD. 

The  peace  circular  of  Nicholas  II.,  mentioned  on  page  288 
of  the  previous  chapter,  led  to  the  Universal  Peace  Conference 
— the  greatest  conference  of  the  century.  The  circular,  which 
became  famous  as  "The  Tzar's  Rescript,"  was  handed  to  all 
the  foreign  ambassadors  in  St.  Petersburg,  on  August  28,  1898. 
It  was  a  printed  document,  containing  an  invitation  to  all  the 
powers  then  represented  at  the  Russian  capital  to  hold  a  con- 
ference to  discuss  the  possibility  of  putting  "some  limit  to  the 
increasing  armaments,  and  to  find  means  of  averting  the  ca- 
lamities which  threaten  the  whole  world." 

At  the  same  time  the  Rescript  pointed  out  that — "The  ever- 
increasing  financial  burdens  attack  public  prosperity  at  its 
very  roots.  The  physical  and  intellectual  strength  of  the  peo- 
ple, labor  and  capital  are  diverted  for  the  greater  part  from 
their  natural  application  and  wasted  unproductively.  Hun- 
dreds of  millions  are  spent  to  obtain  frightful  weapons  of  de- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  293 

struction,  which,  while  being  regarded  to-day  as  the  latest  in- 
ventions of  science,  are  destined  to-morrow  to  be  rendered 
obsolete  by  some  new  discovery.  National  culture,  economical 
progress,  and  the  production  of  wealth  are  either  paralyzed 
or  turned  into  false  channels  of  development.  Therefore  the 
more  the  armaments  of  each  power  increase,  the  less  they 
answer  to  the  purposes  and  intentions  of  the  Governments. 
Economic  disturbances  are  caused  in  great  measure  by  this 
system  of  extraordinary  armaments,  and  the  danger  lying  in 
the  accumulation  of  war  material  renders  the  armed  peace 
of  to-day  a  crushing  burden  more  and  more  difficult  to  bear." 

Of  the  conference  which  he  proposed  should  be  held,  the 
Tzar  went  on  to  say : 

"It  would  be  a  happy  augury  for  the  opening  century.  It 
would  powerfully  concentrate  the  efforts  of  all  States  which 
sincerely  wish  to  see  the  triumph  of  the  grand  idea  of  univer- 
sal peace  over  the  elements  of  trouble  and  discord." 

The  points  to  be  discussed  were  placed  under  eight  head- 
ings, as  follows: 

"1.  An  agreement  not  to  increase  military  and  naval  forces 
for  a  fixed  period ;  also  not  to  increase  the  corresponding  War 
Budgets ;  to  endeavor  to  find  means  for  reducing  these  forces 
and  their  Budgets  in  the  future. 

"2.  To  interdict  the  use  of  any  kind  of  new  weapon  or  ex- 
plosive, or  any  new  powder  more  powerful  than  that  which  is 
at  present  in  use  for  rifles  and  cannon. 

"3.  To  restrict  the  use  in  war  of  existing  explosives  of  ter- 
rible force,  and  also  to  forbid  the  throwing  of  any  kind  of  ex- 
plosives from  balloons  or  by  any  analogous  means. 

"4.  To  forbid  the  use  of  submarine  torpedo  boats  or 
plungers,  and  any  other  similar  engines  of  destruction,  in  naval 
warfare ;  to  undertake  not  to  construct  vessels  with  rams. 

"5.  To  apply  to  naval  warfare  the  stipulations  of  the  Ge- 
neva Convention  of  1864. 

"6.  The  neutralization  of  ships  and  boats  for  saving  those 
shipwrecked  during  and  after  naval  battles. 


294  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

"7.  The  revision  of  the  Declaration  concerning  the  laws 
and  customs  of  war  elaborated  in  1874  by  the  Conference  of 
Brussels,  which  remains  unratified  to  this  day. 

"8.  To  accept  in  principle  the  employment  of  good  offices 
in  mediation  and  optional  arbitration  in  cases  which  lend  them- 
selves to  such  means  in  order  to  prevent  armed  conflict  between 
nations;  an  understanding  on  the  subject  of  their  mode  of  ap- 
plication and  the  establishment  of  some  uniform  practice  in 
making  use  of  them." 

Twenty-six  nations  accepted  the  invitation,  and  their  ninety- 
eight  delegates  met  at  The  Hague,  Holland,  on  May  18,  1899. 
They  were  welcomed  by  the  young  Queen,  Wilhelmina,  who 
placed  her  beautiful  palace,  the  House  in  the  Wood,  at  their 
disposal.  The  acte  final  was  formulated  and  presented  to  the 
delegates  at  their  last  meeting,  on  July  29.  It  contained  three 
principal  conventions:  first,  Arbitration;  second,  the  Rules  of 
War;  third,  the  Geneva  Convention.  Arbitration  was  signed 
by  all  the  nations  represented  except  Germany,  Austria-Hun- 
gary, China,  Great  Britain,  Italy,  Japan,  Luxemburg,  Servia, 
Switzerland,  and  Turkey.  The  Rules  of  War  and  the  Geneva 
Convention  were  signed  by  all  except  the  countries  named 
above,  with  the  addition  of  Portugal.  The  president  of  the 
Peace  Conference  was  the  then  Russian  Ambassador  to  Great 
Britain,  M.  de  Staal. 

The  reign  of  Nicholas  II.  will  be  memorable  in  history  for 
another  great  peace  event — the  construction  and  completion  of 
the  Trans-Siberian  Railroad.  The  cost  of  this  gigantic  under- 
taking was  estimated,  at  the  beginning  of  1904,  at  350,000,000 
rubles  ($175,000,000).  This  road  is  to  Europe  and  Asia  what 
the  first  transcontinental  railway — the  Union  Pacific — was  to 
the  United  States.  It  connects  Europe  with  the  Pacific,  carries 
civilization,  trade,  and  commerce  into  the  Far  East.  Through 
trains  will  be  run  from  Moscow  (with  connections  with  Berlin 
and  Paris)   to  Vladivostok  and  Port  Arthur. 

In  April,  1904,  the  road  was  practically  complete,  with  the 
exception  of  a  stretch  of  150  miles  from  a  point  450  miles  from 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA  295 

Lake  Baikal,  to  the  extreme  eastern  section  connecting  with 
Vladivostok.  Traffic  over  the  road,  then,  was  in  progress  at 
this  time  from  European  Russia  eastward  as  far  as  Lake  Bai- 
kal by  rail,  thence  across  the  lake  by  steamer,  thence  by  rail 
all  the  way  to  Vladivostok,  with  the  exception  of  the  unfinished 
150  miles,  over  which  passengers  and  freight  were  carried  by 
wagon  or  sled.  Furthermore,  the  line  through  Manchuria  con- 
necting the  Siberian  road  with  Russia's  leased  ports  in  China — 
Port  Arthur  and  Talienwan — was  also  practically  complete. 
The  distance  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Vladivostok  by  the  new 
railway  is  6,500  miles,  and  to  Port  Arthur  6,000  miles,  or 
about  twice  the  distance  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco. 
With  the  ultimate  completion  of  the  road,  the  time  for  passen- 
gers and  mail  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Vladivostok  will  be  only 
eleven  or  twelve  days.  Exclusive  of  the  Trans-Siberian  road, 
the  total  length  of  Russian  railways  in  operation  or  in  course 
of  construction  in  April,  1904,  was  35,000  miles. 

THE  JEWS  AND  THE   MASSACRE  AT   KISHINEFF RUSSIA  IN   THE 

BALKAN    STATES THE   RUSSIFICATION   OF   FINLAND RUSSIAN 

REVOLUTIONISTS LOCAL    SELF-GOVERNMENT EXCOMMUNI- 
CATION  OF  TOLSTOI    AND   RELIGIOUS   REVOLUTION. 

On  April  19,  20,  and  21,  1903,  the  world  was  horrified  by 
the  news  of  the  massacre  of  Jews  at  Kishineff,  in  Muscovite 
Russia.  Scores  of  Jewish  residents  were  murdered  by  mobs 
of  mujiks,  and  during  three  days  of  rioting  many  more  of  the 
Jewish  population  were  injured,  while  their  houses  were  looted 
and  destroyed.  Indignation  was  aroused  in  the  United  States, 
and  a  protest  signed  by  citizens  in  every  State  in  the  Union  was 
sent  to  Washington.  Thence  the  petition  was  transmitted  to  St. 
Petersburg,  where,  on  the  16th  of  July,  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment refused  to  receive  it  or  even  to  consider  it.  The  massacre 
then  ceased  to  be  an  international  incident. 

Meantime,  the  Revolutionary  Party  in  Russia  accused  the 
Government   of   connivance   in   the   plot.     The   revolutionary 


296  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

newspapers  stated  that  "the  Government  now  flings  the  Jews 
to  the  people  to  distract  them  from  their  growing  discontent 
with  their  rulers."  The  revolutionists  also  made  the  following 
statements :  "Whenever  revolutionary  pressure  in  Russia  be- 
comes dangerous,  the  Government  turns  to  its  safety-valve — 
the  Jew.  That  is,  as  soon  as  the  mutterings  of  the  mujik — 
whom  the  Government  really  fears — become  ominous,  the  Gov- 
ernment tells  him  that  the  cause  of  all  his  trouble  is  the  Jew; 
that  the  Jews  are  not  Christians,  and  that  the  Jews  therefore 
wish  to  see  the  Christians  in  poverty.  Moreover,  the  Govern- 
ment, through  its  bureaucrats,  gives  the  mujik  to  understand 
that  it  is  a  Christian  duty  to  kill  the  Jews.  Can  we  wonder, 
then,  that  the  mujik  becomes  a  brute  in  his  desperate  effort  to 
eliminate  the  cause  of  all  his  misery?" 

At  the  present  time  (1904)  a  Jew  is  allowed  to  live  in 
Muscovite  Russia  on  one  of  two  conditions — either  he  must 
be  a  mechanic  who  ears  his  living  with  his  hands,  or  he  must 
pay  the  patent  of  a  first-class  merchant,  namely,  one  thousand 
rubles  ($500)  a  year.  And  not  until  he  has  paid  the  patent 
for  ten  years  is  he  permitted  to  come  from  any  part  of  Russia 
into  Muscovite  Russia  with  the  right  to  buy  and  sell  property 
or  merchandise  as  he  pleases  and  as  a  privileged  citizen.  These 
conditions  serve  the  one  purpose  of  eliminating  revolutionary 
elements  among  the  Jews.  That  is,  the  mechanics  are  so  few 
in  number  that  they  are  not  to  be  feared,  while  merchants  who 
can  afford  to  pay  one  thousand  rubles  a  year  for  ten  years  are 
accounted  rich,  and  the  theory  is  that  the  rich  Jew  will  support 
the  Government  that  protects  him. 

Still,  there  are  thousands  of  Jewish  revolutionistSo  An  in- 
fluential revolutionary  paper,  "The  Finland  Bulletin,"  printed 
the  following  and  sent  it  broadcast  through  Russia : 

"After  the  massacres  in  Kishineff,  the  chief  constable  at 
Kieff  convened  all  the  rabbins  of  the  city,  and  commanded  them 
to  post  in  all  synagogues  placards  to  the  effect  that  if  the  Jews 
would  abstain  from  joining  the  movement  hostile  to  the  Gov- 
ernment, they  would  be  spared  and  protected,  otherwise  they 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  297 

would  not  be  accorded  protection.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  part 
of  the  Jewish  youth,  oppressed  as  they  have  been  and  deprived 
of  almost  every  human  right,  have  embraced  the  views  of  those 
who  strive  to  liberate  Russia  from  the  barbarian  yoke  under 
which  it  suffers.  By  means  of  the  planned  massacres  in  Kishi- 
neff,  the  bureaucrats  had  in  view,  first,  to  give  a  sharp  lesson 
to  those  of  the  Jews  who  have  joined  in  the  movement  against 
the  Government,  and  let  them  know  what  they  may  expect  if 
the  revolutionary  movement  were  to  find  more  recruits  from 
among  their  members.  Secondly,  the  outbreak  of  hostilities 
against  the  Jews  was  meant  to  be  a  conductor  for  the  ferment- 
ing discontent  which  is  gaining  more  and  more  ground,  even 
in  the  humblest  strata  of  the  Russian  people." 

In  1903,  the  Russian  Government  sent  troops  to  the  Balkan 
States,  the  murder  of  Russian  citizens,  together  with  other 
atrocities  committed  by  Turkish  troops,  having  aroused  popu- 
lar protest  among  the  Tzar's  subjects  at  home.  During  the 
summer  the  continued  massacres  by  Turkish  soldiers  in  Bul- 
garia and  Macedonia  caused  all  the  European  powers  to  join 
with  Russia  in  a  protest  to  the  Sultan  urging  reforms.  The 
Sultan  made  promises,  but  took  no  active  step  to  carry  out  the 
reforms  mentioned.  On  August  8,  the  Russian  Consul  at 
Monastir  was  murdered  by  Turkish  soldiers.  The  Russian 
Government  then  ordered  a  squadron  into  Turkish  waters. 
The  squadron  arrived  off  the  Turkish  coast  on  August  19,  but 
withdrew  the  next  day,  upon  assurance  from  the  Sultan  that 
the  soldiery  would  be  controlled  and  that  the  murderers  of  the 
Russian  Consul  would  be  punished. 

The  feature  of  Russian  political  policy  of  greatest  and 
gravest  importance  during  the  first  ten  years  of  the  reign  of 
Nicholas  II.  was  the  Russification  of  Finland.  In  February, 
1899,  the  Tzar  signed  an  edict  which  practically  nullified  the 
Finnish  Constitution.  From  that  time  onward,  the  Russian 
Government  proceeded  with  the  work  of  accomplishing  in  Fin- 
land what  had  already  been  achieved  in  Poland — denationaliza- 
tion.    It  should  be  stated  that  Finland  was  the  most  progres- 


298  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

sive  province  in  the  Tzar's  Empire;  that  education  was  com- 
pulsory throughout  the  land;  that  religion  as  an  institution 
was  second  in  importance  only  to  State  institutions;  that  for 
centuries  the  Finns  were  a  people  born,  bred,  married,  and 
buried  according  to  the  doctrines  of  Luther,  abiding  in  the 
Lutheran  faith  as  the  foundation  of  character  and  morals  and 
right  living;  that  in  culture  and  art  the  Finns  held  a  place 
equal  to  that  of  Sweden.  Such  were  the  people  whom  Rus- 
sia deprived  of  the  constitutional  rights  which  they  had  en- 
joyed for  one  hundred  years.  After  five  years  of  the  process 
of  Russification,  the  summary  of  the  situation  in  Finland,  in 
April,  1904,  is  as  follows:  Russia  has  deprived  the  Finns  of 
political  and  personal  liberty;  has  abolished  their  House  of 
Representatives;  has  placed  them  in  a  position  of  taxation 
without  representation;  has  denied  the  right  of  free  speech; 
has  suppressed  nearly  all  Finnish  newspapers;  has  disbanded 
their  army  and  greatly  reduced  the  number  of  schools ;  has  for- 
bidden public  meetings  for  protest;  has  made  Russian  the 
official  language;  has  deposed  all  prominent  Finnish  officials 
and  has  given  their  places  to  Russians ;  and,  bitterest  of  all, 
has  transported  to  Siberia  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  Finnish 
National  Party,  while  banishing  others  from  the  country  as 
exiles. 

In  spite  of  all  this  it  must  be  added  that  the  Finns  have 
nothing  but  kindly  feelings  toward  the  Tzar  himself.  Pictures 
of  the  Emperor,  indeed,  hang  in  conspicuous  places  in  all  Fin- 
nish homes.  Even  the  leaders  of  the  Finnish  patriots  concede 
that  it  is  the  corrupt  officials  of  the  Russian  Government,  and 
not  the  Tzar,  who  are  to  blame  for  the  politicaf  conditions  in 
Finland. 

The  story  of  the  reign  of  Nicholas  II.  would  not  be  com- 
plete without  mention  of  political  conditions  in  Russia  outside 
of  Finland.  The  Government  itself,  with  the  accession  of  Nich- 
olas, became  more  than  ever  aware  that  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  nobility,  landowners,  and  merchants — and  even  officers 
of  the  most  distinguished  regiments — wished  to  see  some  limit 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  299 

set  to  the  power  of  the  Tzar.  The  discontented  ones  have  be- 
come the  leaders  of  the  enemies  of  things  as  they  are  in  Rus- 
sia. Formerly,  such  leaders  were  called  Nihilists.  In  1904, 
they  are  called  revolutionists.  Revolutionary  doctrines  pervade 
all  Russian  society  and  all  classes,  and  percolate  down  and 
through  the  masses.  The  revolutionary  party  in  1904  numbers 
legions  of  adherents  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  including, 
besides  students,  many  members  of  the  nobility,  the  clergy, 
the  bureaucracy,  the  judiciary,  the  army  and  the  navy,  and 
thousands  of  burghers,  merchants,  and  peasants.  Thus  at  the 
end  of  the  first  ten  years  of  the  reign  of  Nicholas  II.,  the  Gov- 
ernment understands  that  the  country  is  nearer  than  ever  to 
a  revolution — not  a  civil  war,  but  a  reign  of  terror,  an  uprising 
of  the  peasants  and  the  wholesale  murder  of  nobles  and  bureau- 
crats. 

Millions  of  copies  of  revolutionary  newspapers,  printed  in 
London,  Stockholm,  Paris,  and  elsewhere  in  Europe,  are  being 
scattered  secretly  among  the  Russian  people.  The  following 
quotations  from  the  revolutionary  literature  of  the  present  will 
convey  an  idea  of  the  teaching  of  the  revolutionists :  "The  time 
is  nearer  than  is  generally  supposed  when  the  vast  empire  of 
the  Tzar  will  be  called  upon  to  withstand  the  shock  of  foreign 
foes,  and  at  the  same  time  to  meet  the  assault  of  those  of  its 
own  household.  The  revolutionary  party  in  Russia  grows 
day  by  day  more  powerful ;  its  influence  permeates  every  class 
of  the  population.  Between  the  people  and  their  rulers  there 
stands  the  army ;  and  for  the  present  the  army  obeys  the  rulers. 
But  will  it  long  continue  to  do  so?  That  is  the  question  on 
which  much  hangs  for  the  Russian  Government,  for  the  Rus- 
sian people,  and  for  the  remainder  of  the  world.  .  .  .  Why 
should  we  fight  for  Manchuria  or  Corea  when  we  can  not  se- 
cure bread  for  our  peasants  at  home?  when  our  peasants  are 
already  overtaxed  and  brought  to  starvation  by  the  burden  of 
a  military  state?  Why  should  we  favor  the  military  spirit 
when  our  Cossacks  already  behave  as  ruffians  and  wrappers 
of  the  people  in  the  very  streets  of  St.  Petersburg  ?  .  .  .  What 


300  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

a  picture  does  the  Russian  Empire  present !  Its  liberal-minded 
men  languish  in  prisons,  or  are  transported  to  Siberia,  or  ex- 
iled from  the  country.  Its  educated  youth  is  being  maimed 
by  the  knouts  of  drunken  Cossacks ;  its  peasants  and  laborers 
are  being  scourged,  and  a  harmless  Jewish  population  is  made 
the  subject  of  massacre.  .  .  .  The  ominous  mutterings  which 
are  being  heard  all  over  Russia  may  herald  the  catastrophe 
which  has  been  long  delayed,  but  which  now  seems  inevitable 
as  part  of  the  reign  of  Nicholas  II.  .  .  .  At  this  moment,  mil- 
lions of  discontented,  poverty-stricken  peasants  and  workmen 
are  learning  with  fatal  facility  that  only  in  revolution  does 
there  lie  the  slightest  hope  of  escape  from  the  iron  tyranny  that 
holds  them  in  its  grip.  .  .  .  The  Tzar  suppresses,  through  his 
hired  tools,  every  manifestation  of  discontent  with  the  present 
state  of  things;  persecutes  every  advocate  of  opposition  to  the 
bureaucracy;  quells  in  blood  every  attempt  at  a  revolutionary 
movement.  This  monarch,  trembling  with  fear  of  murder  or 
murderous  attempts,  himself  assassinates  his  Finnish  people. 
Do  not  his  advisers  realize  what  an  example  the  Tzar  thus 
offers  to  those  who  are  in  opposition  to  the  established  order 
of  things  in  Russia?  .  .  .  May  all  liberal  elements  the  world 
over  combine  to  meet  the  danger  which  threatens  civilization 
from  the  barbarian  power  in  Russia,  and  join  in  a  common 
resistance  against  despotic  violence.  It  is,  indeed,  high  time 
this  should  happen." 

It  must  not  be  concluded  from  the  foregoing  that  there 
has  been  no  development  of  the  local  form  of  self-government 
in  Russia,  mentioned  in  previous  chapters  of  this  work.  Local 
self-government  is  now  common  to  all  village  communities 
throughout  the  Empire.  The  result  is  that  now,  forty-three 
years  after  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs,  the  social  and  politi- 
cal conditions  surrounding  the  peasants  are  far  different  from 
the  conditions  on  the  eve  of  1861.  In  all  matters  concerning 
land  and  inheritance,  for  example,  it  is  not  the  law  of  the  Rus- 
sian Empire  that  now  prevails  in  the  villages,  but  the  local,  tra- 
ditionary, customary  law.     The  peasants  live  under  the  insti- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  301 

tution  of  the  village  community — the  mir — which  owns  all  the 
land  of  the  villages  in  common,  and  allots  it  among  the  separate 
households  in  proportion  to  the  working  capacities  (the  num- 
ber of  full-grown  workers)  in  each  family.  If  John's  family, 
for  instance,  is  composed  of  three  full-grown  workers,  it  gets 
three  shares  in  the  allotments,  while  Peter's  family,  if  it  be 
composed  of  one  man,  his  wife,  and  one  little  child,  will  get 
one  share  only  in  the  allotments.  All  affairs  concerning  the  vil- 
lage schools,  sanitary  matters,  roads,  work  to  be  done  in  com- 
mon, the  right  of  opening  a  public  house,  and  so  on,  are  dis- 
cussed by  the  assembly  of  all  householders.  This  assembly  is 
the  mir,  and  it  represents  an  almost  complete  parallel  to  the 
town-meeting  of  New  England. 

In  thirty-four  provinces  of  European  Russia,  district  and 
provincial  self-government  has  also  proved  successful.  This 
form  of  local  government — the  zemstvo — exists  in  all  the  prov- 
inces except  the  sixteen  Lithuanian,  Baltic,  and  outskirt  prov- 
inces, and  the  ten  provinces  of  Poland.  The  nearest  parallel  to 
the  zemstvo  is  to  be  found  in  the  district  and  county  councils 
of  England.  Scores  of  blue-books  have  been  published  by  the 
Russian  Government,  analyzing  the  work  of  the  zemstvos  since 
1864.  These  books  show  that  in  the  provinces  where  self-gov- 
ernment is  allowed,  there  are  twice  as  many  schools  in  propor- 
tion to  the  population  as  in  those  provinces  which  depend  for 
education  upon  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction.  In  every 
respect,  in  fact,  self-government  in  both  towns  and  provinces 
has  proved  successful. 

The  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  Russia  was  marked 
by  two  important  religious  events.  Count  Leo  Tolstoi,  the 
novelist,  was  excommunicated  by  the  Greek  Church;  and  a 
movement  toward  what  is  now  called  religious  revolution  was 
begun.  This  movement  is  different  from  the  scholastic  move- 
ment of  old — for  this  one  is  a  Protestant  movement.  In  1904 
it  is  estimated  that  there  are  at  least  30,000,000  nonconformists 
among  the  peasant  mass  in  European  Russia.  These  are 
variously  known  as  Stundists,  Anabaptists,  Rationalists,  and 


302  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Protestant-Baptists.  Tolstoi  was  expelled  from  the  Church  of 
Russia  because  of  the  influence  of  his  teachings  among  these 
nonconformists.  His  writings  encouraged  a  return  to  primitive 
Christianity;  and  these  preachings,  together  with  his  moral 
propaganda  and  his  socialistic  teachings,  undoubtedly  exercised 
a  great  influence  upon  the  millions  of  peasants  who  were  try- 
ing to  find  a  religion  superior  to  the  Russian  State  religion. 
The  most  cautious  writers,  in  1 904,  estimate  that  nearly  one- 
third  of  the  Russians  do  not  belong  to  the  Greek  Orthodox 
Church,  but  to  one  of  the  nonconformist  creeds.  And  in 
every  one  of  the  nonconformist  chapels  the  name  of  Tolstoi 
and  his  moral  writings  are  well  known  and  liked,  especially  by 
the  most  progressive  of  the  peasants.  The  excommunication 
of  Tolstoi,  in  short,  only  served  to  increase  his  popularity 
throughout  Russia. 

RUSSIA    IN     THE     FAR     EAST PORT     ARTHUR     AND     TALIENWAN 

LEASED— THE  RUSSO-CHINESE  BANK THE  RUSSIAN   RAILWAY 

IN       MANCHURIA THE      ANGLO-RUSSIAN      AGREEMENT THE 

BOXER  MOVEMENT OCCUPATION  OF  MANCHURIA — RUSSO- 
CHINESE  CONVENTION RUSSIA,  COREA,  AND  JAPAN OUT- 
BREAK    OF     THE     RUSSO-JAPANESE     WAR NAVAL    AND     LAND 

OPERATIONS   OF   THE   FIRST    MONTH    OF   THE   WAR. 

In  the  previous  chapter  are  given  the  details  of  the  Russian 
policy  of  expansion  and  the  successive  acquisitions,  or  process 
of  absorption,  of  various  territories  in  the  Russian  advance 
eastward.  It  is  now  necessary  to  set  forth  briefly  the  later 
events  occurring  under  the  policy  of  expansion  and  culminat- 
ing in  the  Russo-Japanese  War. 

To  Japan,  as  the  prize  won  by  her  victory  in  the  Chino- 
Japanese  War,  was  ceded  Port  Arthur  and  a  large  part  of 
southern  Manchuria.  Two  days  after  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty,  however,  the  powers  compelled  Japan  to  give  her  newly 
acquired  territory  back  to  China.  Russia  was,  of  course,  the 
prime  mover  in  this  diplomatic  game.    After  the  Japanese  had 


HISTORY   OF  RUSSIA.  3<>3 

withdrawn  from  Manchuria,  Russia's  next  move  was  to  se- 
cure the  privilege  of  extending  a  branch  of  the  Siberian  Rail- 
road across  Manchuria  to  the  sea.  Through  the  Tzar's  influ- 
ence China  secured  a  reduction  of  one-fifth  of  the  interest  on 
her  war  debt.  The  Tzar,  further,  guaranteed  the  loan  which 
the  Chinese  Government  was  obliged  to  make — without  which 
guarantee  China  could  not  have  negotiated  the  loan.  Follow- 
ing this  diplomatic  move  on  the  part  of  Russia,  a  treaty  was 
signed  on  March  27,  1898,  by  the  Russian  and  Chinese  Govern- 
ments, whereby  Port  Arthur  and  Talienwan,  in  southern  Man- 
churia, were  leased  to  Russia  for  a  period  of  twenty-five  years 
— the  time  to  be  extended  by  mutual  agreement.  The  treaty 
gave  to  Russia  the  rights  of  extension  of  railroad  construction 
southward  to  the  ports  named,  from  where  the  line  of  the 
Trans-Siberian  road  crossed  north  central  Manchuria  on  its 
way  to  Vladivostok.  It  was  stipulated,  however,  that  the  lease 
should  not  prejudice  China's  sovereignty  over  Manchuria,  yet 
that  all  Chinese  military  forces,  without  exception,  should  be 
withdrawn  from  the  leased  territory.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
was  agreed  that  the  control  of  all  military  forces  in  the  terri- 
tory leased  by  Russia,  and  of  all  naval  forces  in  the  adjacent 
seas,  as  well  as  of  the  civil  officials  in  it,  should  be  vested  in 
one  high  Russian  official,  and  that  such  military  force  as  was 
necessary  in  the  leased  territory  should  be  Russian.  The  Rus- 
sian official  chosen  for  the  post  designated  in  the  treaty  was 
Admiral  Alexieff,  to  whom  was  given  the  title  of  Viceroy. 
Admiral  Alexieff  was  still  in  supreme  command  at  Port  Ar- 
thur at  the  outbreak  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War. 

The  concessions  which  China  granted  to  Russia  for  the 
railway  in  Manchuria  were  made  direct  to  the  Russo-Chinese 
Bank,  a  financial  arm  of  the  Russian  Government.  The  bank 
organized,  under  the  Russian  laws,  the  East  China  Railway 
Company,  with  a  capital  of  5,000,000  rubles  ($2,500,000),  al- 
most all  of  which  was  controlled  by  the  bank.  This  company 
undertook  the  construction  of  the  railway  to  Port  Arthur. 

To  further  secure  right  of  way  in  Manchuria,  the  Russian 


304  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Government  effected  an  agreement  with  Great  Britain,  called 
the  Anglo-Russian  Agreement  of  1899.  By  this  agreement  the 
respective  spheres  of  influence  of  the  two  countries  in  China 
were  defined.  The  agreement  was  signed  April  28,  1899.  Great 
Britain  agreed  not  to  seek  any  railroad  concessions  to  the 
north  of  the  Great  Wall  of  China,  and  not  to  obstruct  appli- 
cations for  railway  concessions  in  that  region  supported  by  the 
Russian  Government.  Russia,  on  her  part,  agreed  not  to  seek 
railroad  concessions  on  the  basin  of  the  Yang-tse,  and  not  to 
obstruct  applications  for  railway  concessions  in  that  region 
supported  by  the  British  Government. 

Then  came  the  Boxer  uprising  in  China,  in  the  suppression 
of  which  Russia  played  a  conspicuous  part.  The  Boxers — an 
anti-foreign  society  known  in  China  as  the  Great  Sword  So- 
ciety— was  formed  to  get  rid  of  foreign  influence  in  the  Chi- 
nese Empire.  The  Boxers  attacked  the  German  Legation  at 
Pekin,  murdered  the  German  Minister,  and  massacred  a  for- 
eign missionary  and  many  of  the  Christian  converts  in  Pekin. 
This  was  followed  by  a  general  outbreak  of  Boxers  throughout 
Shansi,  Shensi,  and  Manchuria.  Hundreds  of  foreigners  and 
Christian  converts  were  killed  and  their  bodies  mutilated.  All 
the  powers  sent  troops  to  China,  engaging  as  allies  in  the  work 
of  suppressing  the  rebellion  and  in  sending  out  punitive  expe- 
ditions. On  July  13-14,  Russia  engaged  with  the  allies  in  tak- 
ing Tien-tsin  by  storm.  On  August  14,  the  Russian  troops,  as 
part  of  the  allied  armies  for  the  relief  of  legations  and  foreign 
residents  in  Pekin,  entered  the  Chinese  capital.  In  September, 
the  Boxer  Movement  had  come  to  an  end. 

With  the  restoration  of  order  in  Manchuria — order  guar- 
anteed by  the  presence  of  Russian  arms — Russia  began  in 
earnest  the  work  of  colonizing  her  leased  territory.  In  the 
summer  of  1901,  the  first  Russian  fleet  arrived  at  Port  Arthur; 
and  at  the  same  time  the  first  ship  of  the  Russian  Volunteer 
Fleet  landed  1,500  peasants  at  Vladivostok.  These  1,500  peas- 
ants formed  the  first  Russian  settlement  in  Manchuria.  Scores 
of  other  Russian  colonies  and  towns  with  brick  buildings  now 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  3°5 

flourish  all  along  the  line  of  the  Russian  railway  in  Manchu- 
ria,  side  by  side  with   squalid   Chinese  villages. 

All  this  time,  the  Russian  military  forces  which  had  entered 
China  to  suppress  the  Boxer  uprising  had  remained  on  Man- 
churian  soil.  In  1901,  the  European  powers  and  Japan  began 
pressing  the  Pekin  Government  to  order  the  Russian  forces 
out  of  Manchuria.  Finally,  on  April  8,  1902,  Russia  and  China 
signed  a  convention  at  Pekin,  wherein  Russia  agreed  to  evac- 
uate Manchuria  by  the  8th  of  October.  In  the  meantime,  how- 
ever, through  astute  diplomatic  procedure  on  the  part  of  Rus- 
sia, the  convention  of  April  "lapsed."  On  October  8,  there- 
fore, there  were  as  many  Russian  troops  in  Manchuria  as  on 
April  8.  It  was  the  "lapse"  of  this  convention  that  aroused 
the  Japanese  nation  to  warlike  activity.  The  Japanese  argued 
that  they  would  have  to  deal  sternly  with  Russia,  else  Russia, 
secure  in  Manchuria,  would  assume  a  like  position  in  Corea, 
and  thus  prepare  the  way  for  an  armed  invasion  of  Japan. 
Moreover,  Corea  represented  for  Japan  a  territorial  outlet  for 
her  already  congested  population  ;  and  still  further,  Japan  feared 
for  her  enormous  interests  in  Corea — her  railways,  her  banks, 
her  trade — for  she  had  developed  these  interests  in  Corea  with 
a  view  to  ultimately  assuming  sovereignty  over  that  country. 
Hence,  with  the  Russian  troops  occupying  Manchuria,  and 
with  Russia  increasing  her  forces  day  by  day  on  the  Corean 
frontier,  Japan  deemed  her  interests  in  Corea  so  seriously  im- 
periled, that  Japanese  diplomats  in  St.  Petersburg  were  ordered 
by  their  Government  to  insist  upon  the  immediate  evacuation 
of  Manchuria  by  the  Russians. 

To  all  the  representations  of  the  Japanese  Government,  the 
Russian  Government  gave  no  heed  excepting  on  paper,  pro- 
ceeding with  her  railway  and  her  colonization  in  Manchuria, 
regardless  of  Japanese  protestation.  On  May  8,  1903,  the 
largest  Russian  force  that  had  yet  entered  China  since  1900 
occupied  the  province  of  Niu-Chwang,  Manchuria.  And  on 
October  29,  1903,  the  Russian  troops  entered  Mukden  and 
there  established  a  military  base.    From  that  day  onward,  both 


306  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

countries  understood  that  war  could  not  be  avoided,  and  both 
sides  prepared  for  the  conflict.  In  the  coming  struggle  Russia 
counted  upon  the  assistance — if  needed — of  France,  with  whom 
she  had  formed  a  military  alliance;  while  Japan  looked  for 
help — if  needed — to  Great  Britain,  with  whom  she  had  formed 
an  alliance  similar  to  that  which  Russia  had  contracted  with 
France. 

On  the  ist  of  February,  1904,  the  prolonged  tension  be- 
tween Russia  and  Japan  reached  a  climax.  Diplomatic  notes 
had  been  exchanged — diplomacy  had  done  all  it  could.  Russia 
partly  conceded  the  demands  of  Japan  in  Corea,  but  would 
not  place  herself  on  record  as  recognizing  the  sovereignty  of 
China  in  Manchuria,  nor  would  Russia  even  discuss  that! 
question  with  Japan.  On  February  1,  then,  the  Russian  au- 
thorities warned  Japanese  residents  to  leave  Vladivostok ;  Rus- 
sia mobilized  all  the  available  vessels  of  her  Asiatic  fleet  at 
Port  Arthur,  now  become  a  great  naval  station;  and  20,000 
Russian  troops  began  to  move  toward  the  Corean  frontier. 

On  Saturday,  February  6,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
M.  Kurino,  the  Japanese  Minister  at  St.  Petersburg,  called 
personally  to  inform  the  Russian  Government  that,  in  view  of 
the  futility  of  negotiations,  Japan  deemed  it  useless  to  continue 
diplomatic  relations.  Whereupon  M.  Kurino  was  handed  his 
passports.  A  few  hours  later,  in  Tokio,  the  Russian  Minister  to 
Japan  prepared  to  leave  the  Island  Empire. 

At  midnight,  Monday,  February  8,  the  first  shot  in  the 
war  was  fired.  A  Japanese  fleet  suddenly  entered  the  outer 
harbor  of  Port  Arthur,  and  sent  in  a  flotilla  of  torpedo  boats 
to  attack  the  Russian  fleet  lying  at  anchor  under  the  guns  of 
the  forts.  For  this  unexpected  attack  the  Russians  were  ill 
prepared.  Many  of  the  officers  of  the  ships  were  ashore  at 
dinner-parties  and  at  places  of  amusement;  and  none  of  the 
Russian  ships  was  even  stripped  for  action.  With  the  on- 
slaught of  the  torpedo  boats,  therefore,  the  Russian  fleet, 
under  Admiral  Stark,  was  thrown  into  utmost  confusion — 
and  defeat  ensued.    The  Russian  first-class  battleships  Retvizan 


HISTORY  OF   RUSSIA.  307 

and  Czarevitch  were  damaged  and  beached,  and  the  cruiser 
Pallada  was  torpedoed  and  sunk.  The  Japanese  torpedo  boats 
escaped  unharmed.  In  this  engagement,  two  Russian  marines 
were  killed,  five  sailors  were  drowned,  and  eight  seamen 
wounded. 

The  next  day,  February  9,  the  Japanese  fleet  of  sixteen 
vessels  returned  to  Port  Arthur  and  opened  a  long-range  bom- 
bardment on  the  Russian  ships  and  forts.  The  Russian  return 
fire  was  ineffectual,  and  the  Japanese  vessels  retired  unharmed ; 
while  the  Russian  first-class  battleship  Poltava  and  the  crui- 
sers Diana,  Askold,  and  Novik  were  damaged  below  the 
water-line.  Admiral  Alexieff  reported  that,  in  this  bombard- 
ment, two  officers  and  fifty-one  men  were  wounded,  and  nine 
men  killed. 

That  same  day,  February  9,  a  division  of  the  Japanese  fleet, 
consisting  of  three  cruisers,  four  gunboats,  and  eight  torpedo 
craft,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Uriu,  approached  the 
harbor  of  Chemulpo,  Corea,  and  sent  word  in  to  the  Russian 
warships  in  the  harbor  that  they  would  be  given  until  noon  to 
come  out  of  the  neutral  port.  The  Russian  ships  were  the 
cruisers  Variag,  of  the  first  class,  and  the  Korietz,  an  incon- 
siderable fighting  unit.  In  the  harbor  were  French,  Italian, 
and  American  cruisers,  whose  crews  cheered  the  Russian  craft 
to  sea,  like  the  crowds  at  a  football  game.  Four  miles  out,  the 
battle  began.  The  Russians  were  smothered  by  weight  of 
metal,  and  after  being  crippled  and  set  on  fire,  crawled  back  to 
the  harbor,  where  they  blew  up  and  sank.  The  Variag  lost 
thirty  men  and  seven  officers  killed,  and  forty-two  wounded. 
The  Japanese  reported  no  losses. 

Altogether,  in  these  first  engagements  of  the  war,  ten  Rus- 
sian ships  were  put  out  of  action,  while  the  Japanese  vessels 
suffered  little  damage. 

Meantime,  Russia's  North  Pacific  fleet,  using  Vladivostok 
as  a  base,  was  fast  caught  in  the  ice,  from  which  it  was  not 
released  until  the  war  was  many  weeks  old.  At  the  same  time 
Russia  was  negotiating  with  Turkey  to  get  her  Black  Sea  fleet 


3o8 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


out  through  the  Dardanelles,  while  the  Russian  Baltic  Sea 
fleet  started  on  its  two  months'  journey  to  the  Far  East. 

A  second  attack  by  the  Japanese  fleet  on  the  Russian  fleet 
at  Port  Arthur,  on  February  21,  was  repulsed.  In  this  fight, 
six  Japanese  vessels — two  battleships  and  four  cruisers — were 
put  out  of  action  and  the  reported  number  of  killed  and 
wounded  varied  from  thirty  to  seventy. 

Such  were,  in  brief,  the  naval  operations  during  the  first 
month  of  the   war. 

The  land  operations  of  the  same  period  included  only 
skirmishes  between  detached  parties  of  Cossacks  and  Japanese 
on  the  Corean  frontier.  The  Japanese  landed  20,000  men  on 
Russian  territory  south  of  Vladivostok ;  and  it  was  reported 
that  a  similar  number  of  Japanese  troops  had  landed  on  the 
east  coast  of  Corea. 

While  the  Japanese  were  thus  bringing  their  armies  to  the 
front,  the  advance  guard  of  the  Russian  army  crossed  the 
Yalu  River  from  Manchuria  into  Corea  and  occupied  Wiju. 
Also  the  Russians  established  headquarters  for  an  army  di- 
vision at  Harbin,  where  the  Manchurian  railway  connected 
with  the  Siberian  road;  while  headquarters  for  the  remainder 
of  the  army  were  established  at  Mukden,  midway  between 
Harbin  and  Port  Arthur.  Both  these  places  were  strategic 
centres  of  railway  communication  in  inland  Manchuria.  War 
Minister  Kuropatkin  was  appointed  to  the  chief  command  of 
the  Russian  forces  in  the  Far  East,  though  Admiral  Alexiefl: 
remained  as  Viceroy.  At  the  end  of  the  first  month  of  the 
war,  both  combatants  had  settled  down  to  the  most  thorough 
preliminary  campaign  for  the  establishment  of  bases  and  lines 
of  communication  before  their  armies  swung  into  battle  line. 

Such  was  the  war  situation  in  the  Far  East  in  March,  1904 
— when  throughout  the  world  it  was  feared  that  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War  would  end,  if  not  in  a  world  war,  at  least  in  a 
conflict  involving  the  respective  allies  of  Russia  and  Japan, 
namely,   France  and   Great   Britain. 

THE  END. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  3°9 


OBSERVATIONS 


In  spelling  the  Russian  names  I  have  adhered  to  the  rational 
orthography,  of  which  the  first  example  was  given  by  Schniuler. 
Thus  the  Russian  k  (the  Greek  kappa)  has  been  rendered  by  k, 
the  letter  x  (aspirated  k,  the  Greek  kht)  by  kh,  and  the  letter  tu 
by  ch.  The  bi  or  dumb  i  has  been  rendered  by  the  French  y, 
and  the  other  Russian  i  by  I.  The  letters  tch  and  chtch  have 
been  kept  to  express  the  tcherve  and  the  chtcha.  The  Russian 
vowel  y,  pronounced  on,  is  translated  by  the  French  diphthong 
ou,  not  by  the  German  u. 

I  have  sought  to  relieve  the  Russian  names  of  their  redun- 
dant s  (the  Germans  employ  seven  letters,  s  c  h  t  s  c  h,  to  express 
the  single  Russian  chtcha),  and  of  the  ff  and  the  double  w, 
which  give  them  such  a  repulsive  appearance.  Only  in  a  few 
names,  sanctioned  by  usage,  I  have  conformed  to  the  usual  or- 
thography ;  instead  of  Chonvalof  and  Chakovsko'i,  diplomacy 
and  literature  have  familiarized  Schouvalof  and  Schakovskoi. 

In  the  same  way  I  write  Moscow  and  Moskowa,  instead  of 
Moskva,  which  designates  both  the  river  and  the  town. 

I  have  tried  to  reproduce  the  orthography  of  the  Russian 
names,  though  not  their  pronunciation,  which  is  still  more  fan- 
tastic than  in  English.  We  print  Orel,  Potemkme,  but  they  must 
be  pronounced  Ariol,  Patiotnkine. 

The  terminations  in  vitch  and  vna  indicate  filiation  :  Peter 
Akxie'vitch,  Peter  son  of  Alexis  ;  Elizabeth  Pitrovna,  Elizabeth 
daughter  of  Peter. 

The  Russian  calendar  has  not  adopted  the  Gregorian  reform ; 
it  is,  therefore,  behind  it,  and  for  every  date  it  is  necessary  to 
indicate  whether  it  is  after  the  old  or  new  style.  For  important 
dates,  both  styles  are  generally  given.  In  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury the  Russian  style  is  eleven  days  behind  ours  :  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  it  is  twelve  days.  Thus  the  date  of  the  death  of 
Catherine  II.  has  been  given  as  6th-i7th  of  November,  a  differ- 
ence of  eleven  days,  since  the  event  happened  in  the  eighteenth 


3 1 o  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

century.     But  we  say  the  revolution  of  the  i4th-2oth  of  Decem- 
ber, 1825,  as  we  are  speaking  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

*  *  *  # 

The  Translator  has  retained  the  orthography  of  M.  Rambaud 
where  it  appeared  to  her  to  convey  to  English  ears  the  correct 
pronunciation.  A  list  of  variations  in  the  spelling  of  ethno- 
graphic names  will  be  found  in  the  Preface. 


MIS7VR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. .  3 1 1 


I. 

Among  the  Russian  books  not  translated  into  French  which 
2  have  consulted  for  this  history,  I  will  cite  the  most  important. 

General  Histories. — '  History  of  Russia  from  the  most  ancient  Times,'  by 
M.  Serge  Solovief  (26  vols,  have  already  appeared,  up  to  Catherine  II.), 
Moscow,  1851-1878.  '  Russian  History,'  by  M.  Bestoujef-Rioumine  (only  1 
vol.,  up  to  Ivan  III.),  St.  Petersburg,  1872.  •  History  of  the  Russian  Na- 
tion,' by  Polevoi.  '  Russian  History  contained  in  the  Biographies  of  the 
principal  Actors,'  by  M.  Kostomarof,  4  vols.,  St.  Petersburg,  1873—1877  ;  by 
the  same,  'Historical  Monographs  and  Researches,'  II  vols.,  St.  Petersburg, 
1868.  The  little  school  histories  of  M.  Solovief  and  M.  Ilovaiski  I  have 
found  most  useful. 

First  Period. — '  Chronicle'  (of  Nestor  and  his  continuators),  edited  by 
Miklosich,  Vienna,  ( i860,  in  the  '  Monumenta  historica  Poloniae '  of  Biklovski, 
Lemberg,  1869,  and  by  the  Archaeological  Commission,  St.  Petersburg,  1872, 
after  the  Laurentian  MSS.  M.  Samokvassof,  'Ancient  Towns  and  Gorodi- 
chtche  of  Russia,'  Moscow,  1874.  Dorn,  '  The  Caspian,'  St.  Petersburg, 
1875.  M.  Gedeonof,  'Varangians  and  Russians,' 2  vols. ,  St.  Petersburg, 
1870.  M.  Ilovaiski, '  Researches  on  the  Origin  of  Russia,'  and  the  '  History 
of  Russia,'  Kievian  period,  Moscow,  1872  ;  both  contrary  to  the  Varangian- 
Norman  theory.  Pogodine,  '  Ancient  Russian  History  to  the  time  of  the 
Mongol  Yoke,'  Moscow,  1871,  2  vols.,  with  a  valuable  atlas  of  prints,  an- 
cient maps,  and  miniatures.  M.  Bielaef,  'Accounts  of  Russian  History 
(Novgorod),'  Moscow,  1866.  M.  Zabieline,  '  History  of  Russian  Life  from 
the  earliest  Times,'  Moscow,  1876. 

Period  of  Ivan  the  Terrible. — '  Narrative  of  Prince  Kourbski,'  published 
by  Oustrielof,  3rd  edition,  St.  Petersburg,  1868.  *  Life  and  Historic  Role  of 
Prince  Kourbski,*  by  Serge  Gorski,  Kazan,  185S.  '  Russia  and  England  ' 
(I5S3_I593)»  °y  M.  Iouri  Tolstoi,  St.  Petersburg,  1875.  '  Private  Life  of  the 
Tzarinas,'  and  '  Private  Life  of  the  Russian  Tzars,'  by  M.  Zabieline,  Mos- 
cow, 1869  ar>d  T872.  The  *  Domostroi '  edited  by  M.  Iakovlef,  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1867.  '  Essays  and  Historico-Literary  Researches  on  the  Domostroi,' 
by  M.  Ne'krassof,  Moscow,  1878.  The  '  Stoglaf,'  edit.  Kojantchikof,  St. 
Petersburg,  1868.  '  Laws  of  the  Grand  Prince  Ivan  III.,  Vassilie'vitch,  and 
of  the  Tzar  Ivan  IV.,  Vassilie'vitch,'  edited  by  Kalaidovitch  and  Stroef, 
Moscow,  1819.    '  Songs'  collected  by  Kirie'evski,  Ivan  the  Terrible. 

Seventeenth  Century. — Bantych-Kamenski,  '  History  of  Little  Russia,'  M. 
Kostomarof,  'Bogdan,  Khmelnitski.'  M.  Koulich  'History  of  the  Reunion 
of  the  Rouss,*  3  vols.,  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  1874,  1877;  by  the  same, 
•Memoirs  on  Southern  Russia,'  St.  Petersburg,  1856-57.  M.  Zabieline 
'  Studies  of  Russian  Antiquaries,'  2  vols.,  Moscow,  1872-73.     '  The  Russian 

Vol.  2  Russia  27 


3  x  2  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

Empire  in  the  middle  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,'  by  Krijanitch,  edited  by 
M.  Bezsonof,  Moscow,  i860.  M.  Aristof,  '  Troubles  in  Moscow  under  the 
Regency  of  Sophia  Alexievna,'  Warsaw,  187 1.  M.  Lechkof,  'The  People 
and  the  Russian  State  ;  History  of  Russian  Public  Law  up  to  the  Eighteenth 
Century,'  Moscow,  1858.  M.  Tchitcherine,  '  Provincial  Institutions  of 
Russia  up  to  the  Eighteenth  Century,'  Moscow,  1856.  M.  Zagoskine, 
History  of  Law  in  the  Russian  State,'  Kazan,  1877. 

Peter  the  Great, — Oustrielof,  'History  of  the  Reign  of  Peter  the  Great,' 6 
vols.,  St.  Petersburg,  1858-63.  M.  Grote,  '  Peter  the  Great,  Civilizer  of 
Russia,'  St.  Petersburg,  1872.  M.  Solovief,  '  Public  Lectures  on  Peter 
the  Great,'  Moscow,  1872.     M.  Guerrier,  *  The  Last  of  the  Varangians '  in 

4  Old  and  New  Russia.'  Bytchkof,  '  Letters  of  Peter  the  Great,'  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1872.     Pe'karski,  '  Science  and  Literature  under  Peter  the  Great.' 

Successors  of  Peter  the  Great. — M.  Andreef,  '  Representatives  of  the  Sov- 
ereign Power  in  Russia  after  Peter  I.,'  St.  Petersburg,  187 1.  Pekarski, 
'The  Marquis  de  la  Chetardie  in  Russia '  (1740-42),  St.  Petersburg,  1862. 
Weidemayer,  '  Review  of  the  Principal  Events,'  &c,  and  the  '  Reign  of 
Elizabeth  Petrovna,'  1835  anc*  1849.  Chtchebalski,  '  Political  System  of 
Peter  III.'  Moscow,  1870.  Bolotof,  'Memoirs,'  edited  by  the  Rousskai'a 
Starina,  4  vols.,  St.  Petersburg,  1871-75;  and  '  Recollections  of  Past  Times,' 
Moscow,  1875.  M.  Choubinski,  '  Historical  Sketches  and  Narratives,'  St. 
Petersburg,  1869.  M.  Bestoujef-Rioumine  on  Tatichtchef,  and  M.  Korsakof 
on  Biren,  in  '  Old  and  New  Russia.' 

Catherine  II. — M.  Tratchevski,  '  The  Furstenbund  and  the  German  Policy 
of  Catherine  II.'  St.  Petersburg,  1877.  M.  Solovief,  '  History  of  the  Fall  of 
Poland,'  Moscow,  1863.  M.  Kostomarof,  '  Last  Years  of  the  Polish  Pos- 
polite,'  St.  Petersburg,  1870.  '  Journal  of  Khrapovitski,'  edited  by  M. 
Barsoukof,  St.  Petersburg,  1874.  '  Memoirs  of  G.  R.  Derjavine,'  edited  by 
the  Rousskai'a  Be'sieda,  Moscow,  i860.  '  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Services  of 
Alexander  Bibikof,'  edited  by  his  son,  Moscow,  1865.  M.  Melnikof,  '  Prin- 
cess Tarakanof,'  St.  Petersburg,  1868.  Papers  relative  to  the  great  legis* 
lative  commission,  published,  with  a  preface,  by  M.  Polie'nof,  in  the  Coll.  of 
the  Imp.  Soc.  of  Russian  History,  3  vols.,  St.  Petersburg,  1869,  and  following. 

Paul  I. — General  Milioutine,'  '  History  of  the  Russian  War  with  France 
in  1799,'  5  vols.,  St.  Petersburg,  1852-53.  PoleVoi",  '  History  of  Souvorof- 
Rymniski,  Prince  of  Italy,'  Moscow,  181 1.  Accounts  of  Souvorof,  by  an 
Old  Soldier,'  published  by  the  Muscovite,  Moscow,  1847.  'Memoirs  of  L. 
N.  Engelhardt,' published  by  the  Archive  Russe,  Moscow,  1868. 

Alexander  I. — M.  Bogdanovitch,  '  History  of  the  War  of  Patriotism,'  3 
vols.,  and  '  History  of  the  Reign  of  Alexander  I.,'  6  vols.,  St.  Petersburg, 
1869-71.  Pypine,  '  Progress  of  Ideas  under  Alexander  I.'  Korff,  'Life  of 
Count  Speranskiy  Kief,  1873.  M.  Ikonrkof,  '  Count  Mordvinof,'  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1873.  Mikhailovski  Danilevski,  'Description  of  the  first  War  with 
Napoleon,'  St.  Petersburg,  1844,  and  all  the  wars  of  Alexander  I.  M.  Alex. 
Popof,  '  Moscow  in  1812;  the  French  at  Moscow,'  Moscow,  1875-76.  'Re- 
lations of  Russia  with  the  European  Governments  before  the  War  of  1812/ 
St.  Petersburg,  1876.  Madame  Tolytche'va,  '  Account  by  Eye-witnesses  of 
the  year  1872,'  Moscow,  1872-73. 

Nicholas  and  Alexander  II.— M.  Bogdanovitch,  'History  of  the  Eastern 
War,'  5  vols.,  1876-77.  'Collection  of  MSS.  about  the  Defence  of  Sebas- 
topol,'  published  under  the  auspices  of  the  TzareVitch,  3  vols.,  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1872-73.  Kovalevski.  'War  with  Turkey  and  Rupture  with  the 
European  Governments  in  1853-54,'  St.  Petersburg,  187 1. 

Berg,  '  Essavs  on  the   Polish  Insurrections   and   Conspiracies,'  Moscow, 

1873.  M.  Kropotof,  '  Life    of   Count   M.  N.    Mourovief,'  St.    Petersburg, 

1874.  Likhoutine,  '  Memorials   of  the  Hungarian   Campaign  in  1849,'  Mos- 
cow. 1875.    M.  Nil  Popof,  '  Russia  and  Servia,'  1  vols.,  Moscow,  i860. 


BJSTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA.  3 1 3 

M.  Golovatchef,  'Ten  Years  of  Reforms,  1861—1871,*  St.  Petersburg,  187* 
M.  Mordovtsof,  '  Ten  Years  of  the  Russian  Zemstvo,'  St.  Petersburg,  1877. 

To  these  works  we  must  add  the  '  Archives  of  Prince  Voronzof,*  pub. 
lished  by  M.  Barte'nief,  12  vols.,  Moscow,  1870-78.  The  Coll  of  the  Imp, 
Soc.  of  Russian  History,  20  vols.,  St.  Petersburg,  1867-78.  Numerous 
articles  in  the  'Russian  Archives'  of  M.  Barte'nief  (Moscow,  1862-77,  22 
vols.)  '  The  Eighteenth  Century'  (14  vols.)  and  'The  Nineteenth  Century' 
(2  vols.),  by  the  same.  '  Russian  Antiquity,'  St.  Petersburg,  1870-77,  20 
vols.  '  Ancient  and  Modern  Russia,'  St.  Petersburg,  1875-77,  9  vols.  The 
immense  collection  of  the  '  Tche'nia,' or  '  Lectures,'  &c.  The  Transactions 
of  archaeological  societies  and  archaeological  meetings. 

Bantych-Kamenski  has  left  a  bibliographical  dictionary  of  Russian  person- 
ages. 

The  archaeology,  ethnography,  geography,  and  separate  history  of  the 
Baltic  provinces,  of  Little  Russia,  and  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Kazan, 
popular  literature,  and  cultivated  literature,  would  require  a  far  more  exten- 
sive bibliography.  Polevoi  has  given  us  a  'History  of  Russian  Literature;' 
likewise  M.  Porphyrief,  2  vols.,  Kazan,  1876. 

For  geography  consult  the  Geographical-Statistical  Dictionary  of  the 
Russian  Empire,  by  M.  Semenof,  St.  Petersburg,  1863-72  ;  the  '  Tentative 
Statistical  Atlas  of  Russia,'  by  Colonel  lline;  the  small  school  atlas  of 
Russian  history,  by  M.  Dobriakof. 

II. 

It  will,  no  doubt,  be  more  useful  to  indicate  to  the  reader  the 
French  books,  or  books  translated  into  French,  that  help  to 
complete  the  former  list. 

General  History. — The  following  may  always  be  consulted  with  profit  :— 
Karamsin,  '  Histoire  de  l'Empire  de  Russie  '  (to  the  17th  century),  trans- 
lated by  Saint  Thomas  and  Jauffret,  11  vols.,  Paris,  1819-26.  Leveque, 
'Histoire  de  Russie  et  des  principales  nations  de  l'Empire  Russe,'  continued. 
by  Malte-Brun  and  Depping,  8  vols.,  Paris,  1812.  Esneaux  and  Chennechot, 
'Histoire  philosophique  et  politique  de  Russie,'  5  vols.,  Paris,  1830.  Chop- 
pin,  '  Russie,'  in  '  L'Univers  Pittoresque,'  2  vols.,  Paris,  1838-46.  M. 
Geffroy,  '  Histoire  des  etats  scandinaves,'  Collection  Duruy,  Paris,  1831. 
Le'level,  '  Histoire  de  Pologne,'  2  vols.,  Paris,  1844. 

In  German  :  'Geschichte  des  Russischen  Staates,'  by  Strahl  and  M.  Her- 
mann. 7  vols.,  Hamburg  and  Gotha,  1832-66;  and  '  Geschichte  Russlands,' 
by  M.  Bernhardi,  4  vols.,  Leipzig. 

General  Studies, — Baron  de  Haxthausen,  '  Etudes  sur  la  situation  inte"- 
rieure,  la  vie  nationale  et  les  institutions  nationales  de  la  Russie,'  3  vols*., 
Hanover,  1847-53.  Schnitzler,  '  L'Empire  des  Tsars,'  4  vols.  Paris  and 
Strasburg,  1862-69.  The  excellent  articles  of  M.  Anatole  Leroy  Beaulieu 
in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  since  1873.  Mackenzie  Wallace,  '  Russia,' 
translated  into  French  by  M.  Henri  Bellenger,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1877.  Herbert 
Barry,  'Contemporary  Russia,'  translated  into  French,  Paris,  1873.  Dixon, 
'  Free  Russia,'  translated  into  French,  Paris,  1872.  M.  Leouzon  le  Due, 
'Etudes  sur  la  Russie  et  le  Nord  de  1' Europe,  la  Baltique,  la  Russie  con- 
temporaine.'  M,  X.  Marmier,  '  Lettres  sur  la  Russie,  la  Finlande  et  la 
Pologne.'  Madame  Hommaire  de  Hell,  '  Les  Steppes  de  la  Mer  Caspie*ine'. 
M.  Anatole  Demidof,  '  La  Crimee.'  Prince  Galitsyne,  *  La  Finlande.'  M. 
Louis  Leger,  '  Le  Monde  Slave,'  and  'Etudes  slaves,'  Paris,  1873  W1<^  l%7$> 
M.  Legrelle,  '  Le  Volga,'  Paris,  1877. 

Ancient  Period. — M.  Bergmann,  '  Les  Scythes,  les  ancOtres  des  peuples 


3 14  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

germaniques  et  slaves,'  Halle,  i860.  M.  Georges  Perrot,  'Le  Commerce 
des  ce're'ales  en  Attique  au  4e  siecle  avant  notre  hre'  (Revue  Historique% 
May  1877).  'La  Chronique  de  Nestor,'  translated  into  French  by  Louis 
Paris,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1834.  M.  L.  Leger,  '  De  Nestore  rerum  russicarum 
scnptore,'  Paris,  1868;  by  the  same,  *  Cyrille  et  Methode,'  historical  study  of 
the  conversion  of  the  Slavs  to  Christianity,  Paris,  1868.  M.  A.  Rambaud, 
4  L'Empire  Grec  au  ioe  siecle,'  Paris,  1870. 

In  English:  Mr.  Ralston,  '  Early  Russian  History,'  London,  1874. 

From  the  16th  to  the  i&th  century. — In  the  Russo-Polish  library  of  Franck: 
Meyerberg,  *  Voyage  en  Moscovie.'  Giles  Fletcher,  '  Russia  in  the  Sixteenth 
Century.'  Korb,  '  Recit  de  la  ReVolte  des  Strelitz;  'Journal  du  boyard 
Che're'metief,  une  ambassade  Russe  a  la  cour  de  Louis  XIV. ;'  '  Me'moires  ' 
of  Manstein,  Princess  Dachkof  and  Tchitchagof. 

Prince  Emmanuel  Galitsyne,  '  La  Russie  au  iy&  siecle,  re'cit  du 
voyage  du  prince  Potemkine,'  Paris,  1855.  Augustin  Galitsyne,  '  La  Russie 
au  i8e  siecle  ;  memoires  inedits  sur  la  regne  de  Pierre  I.'  Paris,  1865.  Pros- 
per Merime'e,  '  Episodes  de  l'Histoire  de  Russie.  '  Histoires  des  Guerres 
de  Moscovie  (1601-11),'  by  Isaac  Massa  of  Haarlem,  Brussels,  1876.  Serge 
Galitsyne,  '  La  Regence  de  la  Tzarine  Sophie,'  translated  from  the  Russian 
of  Chtche'balski,  Carlsruhe,  1857.  '  Me'moires  du  prince  Pierre  Dolgoroukof,' 
2  vols,  Geneva,  1867-71. 

Voltaire,  'L'Histoire  de  Charles  XII.,'  and  '  L'Histoire  de  Russie  sous 
Pierre  le  Grand.'  Johann  Gotthilf  Vockerodt  and  Otto  Pleyer,  '  Russland 
unter  Peter  dem  Grossen,'  published  by  M.  Hermann,  Leipzig,  1872.  M. 
Mintzlof,  *  Pierre  le  Grand  dans  la  litterature  etrangere,'  St.  Petersburg, 
18,2.  Posselt  '  Der  General  und  Admiral  Franz  Lefort,'  2  vols.,  Frankfort, 
1866.  Bachoutski,  '  Panorama  de  Saint-Pe'tersbourg,'  translated  from  the 
Russian,  St.  Petersburg,  1831-34.  M.  Saint-Rend  Taillandier,  '  Maurice  de 
Saxe,'  Paris,  1870.  M.  Boutaric,  '  Correspondance  secrete  de  Louis  XV.' 
2  vols.,  Paris,  1866.  '  Memoires  of  Lady  Rondeau,  the  Chevalier  d'Eon, 
&c.  Rathery,  '  Le  Comte  de  Plelo,'  Paris,  1876.  Salvandy,  '  Histoire  da 
Jean  Sobieski  et  du  royaume  de  Pologne,'  2  vols.,  Paris,  1855. 

Catherine  II.  and  Paul  I. — Rulhiere,  '  Histoire  et  anecdotes  sur  la  reV 
olution  de  Russie  en  1762,'  Paris,  1797.  Tooke,  'History  of  the  Empire  of 
Russia  under  the  Reign  of  Catherine  II.,' translated  from  the  English,  6  vols., 
Paris,  1801.  Jauffret, 'Catherine  II.  et  son  regne,'  2  vols.,  Paris,  i860. 
Augustin  Galitsyne,  'Le  faux  Pierre  III.'  translated  from  Pouchkine,  Paris, 
1858.  '  Me'moires,'  by  the  Comte  de  Segur.  'Memoires  secrets,'  by  Majoi 
Masson.  '  Histoire  de  Catherine  II.'  Castera,  &c.  *  Memoires  de  l'imper- 
atrice  Catherine  II,'  published  by  Herzen,  London,  1857.  Sabathier  de 
Cabres,  '  Catherine  II.,  sa  Cour  et  la  Russie,'  Berlin,  1869.  'La  Cour  dt 
Russie,  il  y  a  cent  ans,  extraits  des  de'peches  des  ambassadeurs  anglais  et 
francais,'  Leipzig  and  Paris,  i860.  M.  A.  Rambaud,  '  Catherine  II.  dans 
sa  Famille:'  '  Catherine  II.  et  ses  Correspondants  francais,'  in  the  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes  of  the  1st  of  February,  1874,  and  the  1st  of  February  and  1st 
of  March,  1877.  M.  A.  Geffroy,  '  Gustave  III.  et  la  Cour  de  France,'  2  vols, 
Paris,  1867.,  'Me'moires  '  or  '  Recits '  of  Smith,  Fuchs,  Laverne,  Anthing,  tnd 
Gillaumanches,  on  Souvorof. 

Epoch  of  Alexander  I. — Besides  the  '  Histoire  du  Consulat  etde  1'Empire,' 
by  Thiers,  'L'Histoire  de  France  depuis  le  18  Brumaire,' by  Bignon,  there 
exist  numerous  'Me'moires'  of  the  campaigns,  and  especially  that  of  1812, 
the  most  important  of  which  I  have  indicated  in  vol.  ii.  p.  275.  Consult 
particularly  the  '  Memoires'  of  Savary,  Duke  of  Rovigo;  'Memoires  et 
Histoire  du  ge'neYal  Philippe  de  Se'gur,'  6 vols.,  Paris,  1873;  'Souvenirs  mili- 
tates de  1804  a  1814,'  by  M.  le  Due  de  Fezensac,  Paris,  1870;  Schnitzler, 
•La  Russie  en  1812,'  Rostopchine  et  Koutouzof,  Paris,  1863  ;  A.  de  Se'gur, 
'  Vie  du  Comte  Rostopchine,'  Paris,  1872;  M.  Albert  Soiel,  '  HiatT\«  du 
Traits  de  Paris.'    Paris,  1873. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  3X5 

Nicholas  and  Alexander  II. — '  Documents  servant  a  eclaircir  l'histoire  des 
provinces  occidentales  de  la  Russie  (in  French  and  Russian),  St.  Petersburg, 
1865.  Schnitzler,  *  Histoire  intime  de  la  Russie,'  2  vols.,  Paris,  1847.  Nich- 
olas Tourgue'nief,  '  La  Russie  et  les  Russes,'  3  vols.,  Paris  1847,  Baron  Korff 
4  Avenement  au  trone  de  i'empereur  Nicholas,  translated  from  the  Russian, 
Paris,  1857.  Balleydier,  '  Histoire  de  I'empereur  Nicolas,'  2  vols.,  Paris, 
1857  ;  a  somewhat  second-rate  though  useful  book.  Peter  Dolgoroukof, 
•  La  Ve'rite  sur  la  Russie,'  Paris,  i860.  M.  Lacroix  (Bibliophile  Jacob), 
'  Histoire  de  la  vie  et  du  regne  de  Nicolas  I.,  Paris,  1864  and  following  years. 
Admiral  Jarien  de  la  Graviere,  '  Les  missions  exterieures  de  la  marine,' 
Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  of  1873. 

There  is  no  definite  history  of  these  two  reigns. 

To  the  writings  of  the  historiographer  M.  de  Bazancourt,  to  the  works  of 
Niel  and  Todleben,  and  to  the  accounts  of  eye-witnesses  or  tourists,  we  must 
now  add  'L'Histoire  de  la  Guerre  de  Crimee,'  by  M.  Camille  Bousset,  2 
vols.,  Paris,  1877.  M.  J.  de  la  Graviere,  '  La  Marine  d'aujourd'hui,'  Paris, 
1872.  See  also  '  Francais  et  Russes,  Moscou  et  Sevastopol,'  by  M.  Alfred 
Rambaud,  Paris,  1877. 

On  the  Russian  policy  in  the  Franco-German  war,  consult  the  excellent 
work  of  M.  Albert  Sorel,  '  Histoire  diplomatique  de  la  guerre  France-Alle- 
mande,' 2  vols.,  Paris,  1875,  an(^  rne  'Deux  Chanceliers,'  by  M.  Klaczko. 
On  the  progress  of  the  Russians  in  Asia,  M.  M.  Weil,  '  L'Expedition  de 
Khiva;'  'Khiva,  rapports  de  Hugo  Stumm/  translated  from  the  German, 
Paris,  1874 ;  some  articles  in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  especially  that  of 
M.  Cucheval-Clarigny  (15th  May,  1877);  the  *  Annuaires '  of  the  same 
review,  &c. 

For  Literature. — M.  Courriere,  '  Hist,  de  la  litt.  contemporaineen  Russie,' 
Paris,  1875:  M.  Rambaud,  '  La  Russie  epique,'  1876;  Mr.  Ralston's  'Tales 
of  the  Russian  People,'  translated  into  French,  Paris,  1876;  tolerably  nu- 
merous translation's  of  Pouchkine,  and  of  M.  Ivan  Tourguenief,  by  M.  Louis 
Viardot;  of  Gogol,  Ly  M.  Ernest  Charriere;  of  Gontcharof  (oblomof)  by 
M.  Charles  Deulin;  and  of  Alexis  Tolstoi  ('  Le  prince  Serebrannyi,  ou  Ivan 
te  Terrible  '),  by  Prince  Augustin  Galitsyne. 

F&r  the  Fine  Arts.—M.  Viollet-le-Duc,  *  L'Art  Russe,'  Paris,  1877. 


316 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


TABLE  OF  MEASURES,  WEIGHTS,  && 
{Abridged  from  Mr.  Murray's  *  Handbook  of Russia.*) 


i  dium 
32  dium 

i  vershok 
1 6  vershoks 
3  arshins 
500  sajens 
3400  sajens  square 


1  grivna  = 

100  kopeks  = 

1  rouble  = 

One  English  sovereign 


8  shtof  3  =  1  vedro 


1  garnets 
8  garnets 
8  chetveriks 


96  zolotniks 
40  pounds 
10  plids 


Length. 

■■»     1  inch. 

wm      I  foot. 

■»  1.75  inch. 

«b  1  arshin,  or  28  inches  English^ 

■=  1  sajen,  or  fathom. 

mB.  1  verst  =  2-3  of  a  mile. 

=  2.86  acres. 

Money. 

10  kopeks. 
1  rouble. 
32  pence,  or  from  25*/.  to  38^ 
is  worth  about  7.50  roubles. 

Capacity. 

oaa    3.25  gallons  wine  measure. 

Dry  Measure. 

ss»     0.34  peck. 

c=     1  chetverik  ■■  0.68  busheL 

■■»     1  chetvert    ■»•  5.46  bushels, 

Weight. 

■=       1  funt  ««=   14.43  OZ- 

=     1  pud  =  36.08  lbs. 

=     1  berkovets  =  360.80  lbs. 


3J7 


INDEX. 


Abo,  treaty  of,  SI.  7a. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  ii.  J7,  78. 
Adachef   Alexis,  favorite  of  Ivan  IV.,  i.  187, 
192. 

Treachery  and  banishment,  i.  193. 
Agriculture  of  Slavs,  i.  43. 

National,  ii.  34. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,   Treaty,  1818,  ii.  206. 
Akhmet,  Khan  of  Kazan,  i.  167. 
Akkerman,  fall  of,  ii.  1 16. 
Alexander  Nevski,  son  of  Iaroslaf,  i.  119. 

Origin  of  surname,  i.  120. 

Counsels  tribute  to  Tatars,  i.  122. 

Death,  i.  123. 
Alexander  son  of  Casimir  IV.,  i.  169. 

Marries  daughter  of  Ivan  III.,  i.  170. 
Alexander  I.,  ii.  142. 

Treaty  with  France,  ii.  143. 

Interview  with  Prussian    Sovereigns, 

«•  '47> 
Czartoryski  counsels  peace,  11.  151. 
Hatred  of  the  English,  ii.  157. 
Interview  with   Napoleon  at  Tilsit,  ii. 

■57- 

Empowers  Bennigsen  to  treat,  11.  157. 

Changes  his  Cabinet,  ii.  159. 

His  foreign  policy  unpopular,  ii.  160. 

Differences  with  Napoleon,  causes,  ii. 
170. 

Rupture  with  Napoleon,  ii.  175. 

Military  resources,  ii.  177. 

Negotiates  with  Frederick  William  III. 
ii.  190. 

The  soul  of  the  Coalition,  ii.  193. 

Scorns  intrigues  of  Bourbons,  ii.  200. 

Influence  in  European  affairs,  ii.  206. 

Radical  change  of  character,  ii.  207. 

Review  of  his  reign,  ii.  210. 

Favorites  of,  ii.  210,  219. 

Later  bigotry,  ii.  217. 

Death,  1825,  ii.  225.     See  also  Russia. 
Alexander  II.  suceeeds  Nicholas  I.,  ii.  255. 

Emancipation  of  the  serfs,  ii.  260,  265, 

Judicial  reforms,  ii.  266. 

Polish  insurrection,  ii.  269. 

European  policy  ii.  282.  See  also  Russia. 
Alexis  Mikhailovitch,  son  of  Michael  Roman- 
of,  1.  272. 

Takes  Little   Russia  under  protection, 
i.  276. 

Abandons  Livonia,  278. 

Turns  his  arms  against  Sweden,  I.  278. 

Resents  execution  of  Charles  I.,  1.  289. 
Alexis,  son  of  Peter  the  Great,  ii.  47. 

Marries  Charlotte  of  Brunswick,  ii.  48. 

Compellad  to  renounce  the  crown,  ii.  48. 

Seeks  refuge  in  Vienna,  ii.  48. 

Centre  of   conspiracy  against  Peter,  ii. 
49. 

Punishment  and  death,  ii.  «> 


Ambassadors,  foreign,  I.  a  16. 

Ambrose,  Archbishop,  insurrection  against.  Si 

97-  . 
American  War,  ii.   m. 
Amiens,  Peace  of,  ii.  145. 
Ancient  peoples,  customs  and  costumes,  i.  3a 
Aucona,  siege  of.  ii.  137. 
Andrew  Bogolioubski   (of  Souzdal),  i.  83. 

Takes  Kief  by  assault,  1169,  i.  83. 

Founds  Vladimir  on  the  Kliazma,  i.  86. 

Creates  autocracy,  i.  87. 

Superiority  and  despotism,  1.  87. 

Triumphs  over  the  Bulgarians,  i.  87. 

Assassinated  by  his  boyards,  1174,  i.  88. 
Anglo-Russian  Protocol,  1826,  ii.  234. 
Anne  Ivanovna  crowned  Empress,  ii.  60. 
Severity  of  her  reign,  ii.  61. 
Anne  Leopoldovna,  regency  of,  ii.  68. 
Anne  Petrovna,  ii.  58,  71. 
Appanaged  princes,  15th  and  16th  cent.,  i.  184 
Apraxine,  Russian  Generalissimo,  ii.  74/75. 
Araktchdef,  ii.  216. 

Archaeologists,  Russian,  discoveries,  i.  24. 
Architecture,  1.  226. 
Aristotele  Fioraventi,  Italian  architect,  work, 

1.,  172  228. 
Arkhangel,  i.,  203  ;  ii.  33. 
Army.    See  Russia. 
Art,  development,  i.  226,  11.  277. 

Graeco-Scythian,  L  24. 
Aryan  family,  i.  28. 
Asia,  Russian  conquests,  ii.  278. 
Asiatic  character  of  Russian  society,  i.  219. 
Astrakhan  conquered  by  Ivan  IV.,  i.  190. 

Tzarate  of,  i.  166. 
Augustus  of  Poland  accepts  humiliating  terms 

from  Charles  XII.,  ii.  15. 
Austerlitz,  battle  of,  ii.  150. 
Austria  and  Russia,  relations,  1.  232. 

Fears  success  of  Russia,  ii.  66, 

Submits  to  Napoleon  terms  of  allies,  iL 
192. 

Joins  the  coalition,  ii.  193. 

Seeks  only  weakening   of  Napoleon's 
power,  ii.  195. 
Austrian  succession,  war  of,  ii.  7a. 
Austro-Russian  alliance,  ii.  64. 
Azof  capitulates  to  Peter  the  Great,  1,  joo. 

Surprised  by  Cossacks,  i.  361. 


Bachkirs,  the,  i.  3a 

Bagration,  Prince,  ii.  147,  1(3,  igt,  179, 

Balaclava,  battle  of,  ii.  251. 
Baltic,  navigation  of,  i.  14. 

A  Swedish  Mediterranean,  ii.  9. 
Banks  founded,  ii.  77. 
Barbaric  invasions  of  4th  cent.,  i.  26. 
Barclay  de  Tolly,  i.  157,  179,  199,  20a. 
Bartenstein,  convention  of,  iL  155. 


3i8 


INDEX. 


Bati,  khan  of  Mongols,  i.  93,  115. 

Reception  of  Daniel,  i.  93. 

Court  on  the  Volga,  i.  124- 

Death,  1255,  i.  119. 
Batory,  Stephen,  king  of  Poland,  i.  101. 

Repels  Russians  at  Polotsk,  i.  joi. 

Death,  1586,  i.  433. 
Battle  of  the  Ice,  1242,  i.  121. 
Bela,  King  of  Hungary,  i.  91. 

Enters  Galitch,  1.  91. 
Belskis,  leaders  of  faction,  i.  185. 
Bells,  i.  146,  238. 
Bennigsen,  Generalissimo  of  allies,  ii.  153. 

Claims  victory  of  Eylau,  ii.  154. 

At  Leipzig,  ii.  194. 
Berendians.     Set  Black  Caps. 
Berezina,  passage  of,  ii.  189. 
Berlin  occupied  by  the  French,  ii.  151. 
Bernadotte,  French  General,  ii.  153, 

Elected  King  of  Sweden,  ii.  165. 

Treasonable  scheme,  ii.  195. 
Bestoujef,  Russian  Chancellor,  ii.  73. 

Fall  of,  ii.  75. 
Betski,  scheme  of  national  education,  ii.  106. 
Biarmaland,  country  of  Permians,  i.  30. 
Bibikof,  Alexander,  ii.  98. 
Bibliographical  notes,  ii.  288. 
Biren,  favorite  of  Anne  Ivanovna,  ii.  67. 

Named  Regent  by  Anue  Ivanovna,  ii. 
68. 

Arrest  and  banishment,  ii.  68. 
Black  Caps,  Russian  barbarians,  i.  82. 

Land,  The,  i.  21. 

Russia,  i.  34. 
Black  Sea.    See  Russia. 
Blucher,  military  energy,  ii.  197. 
Bog,  Slavonic  name  for  God,  i.  38. 
Bogdan  Khanelnitski,  Cossack  leader,  i.  274. 

Offensive  operations  against  Russians, 
i.  274,  279. 
Bogolioubski,  Andrew,  son  of  George  Dolgo 

rouki,  i.  83.     See  Andrew  of  Souzdal. 
Bokhara  open  to  communication,  i.  206.     See 

also  ii.  236. 
Bolgary  destroyed  by  Tatars,  i.  115. 
Bolotmkof .     See  Second  false  Dmitri. 
Bonaparte  in  German  affairs,  ii.  144. 
Bonaparte.    See  Napoleon. 
Boris  Godounof,  i.  23  r.     See  also  Godounof. 
Borodino,  battle  of,  ii.  181. 
Boulgakof,  Russian  envoy  to  Turkey,  ii.  114. 
Bowes,   Jerome,  English  envoy  to  Russia,  i. 

Boyards  of  Ga'iitch,  i.  91. 

Surrounders  of  the  Prince,  i.  210. 
Brest,  council  of,  i.  267. 
"  Brigand  of  Touchino."    See  Touchino. 
Brigandage,  prevalence,  ii,  30. 
Bucharestj  congress  at,  1812,  ii.  169. 
Bulgaria,  1.,  53  ;  ii.  248. 
Bulgarian  war,  i.  53. 

Bulgars,  ancient,  mix  with  Mongols,  I.  166. 
Building-stone  in  Russia,  1.  17. 
Byzantine  forces  defeat  Igor,  i.  50. 

Literature,  i.  j\. 

Monarchism,  influence,  i.  221. 
Byzantium  fears  extension  of  Russian  power, 
j.  54,  63.    See  Tzargrad. 

Campo  Formio,  treaty  of,  ii.  130. 
Cannon  in  Russian  army,  1389,  i.  153. 
Cardis,  peace  of,  i.  278. 


Carlsbad,  congress  of,  1819,  ii.  206 
Casimir,  John,  King  of  Poland,  i.  275. 
Casimir  IV.,  King  of  Lithuania  and  Poland, 

i.  169. 
Castes,  i.  67. 
Catherine  I.  in  Russian  camp,  ii.  42. 

Declared  Empress,  ii.  51,  54. 

Marriage  to  Peter,  11.  50. 

Humble  origin  and  character,  ii.  50. 
Catherine  II. 

Usurpation,  ii.  85. 

Foreign  policy,  ii.  87. 

Successes  over  the  Turks,  it.  94. 

Difficulties  in  her  empire,  11.  97. 

Extinguishes  the  Zaporogue  republic, 
ii.  99. 

Influence  of  the  Orlofs,  11.  100. 

The  new  code,  ii.  101. 

Extends  serfage,  11.  102. 

Administration  and  justice,  ii.  103. 

Colonization,  ii.  104. 

Secularization  of  church  property,    ii. 
105. 

Interest  in  education,  ii.  106. 

Introduces  inoculation,  ii.  106. 

Influence  of  French  genius,  11.  107 

Place  in  literature,  ii.  108. 

Armed  neutrality,  1780,  ii.  m. 

Enemies  on  all  sides,  ii.  115. 

Signs  peace  of  Iassy,  ii.  117. 

Receives  Polish  malcontents,  ii.  118. 

Treasonable   conduct  towards  France, 
ii.  126. 

Outlines  her  position,  ii.  127.    [11.  127. 

Excites  jealousy  of  Prussia  and  Austria 

Death,  1796,  ii.  127. 
Cauiaincourt,     French    ambassador,   ii.    196, 

198. 
Chancellor,  English  navigator,  i.  203,  204. 
Charles  1.  of  England,  mission  of  Rus;ian  en- 
voy, i.  287. 
Charles  II.  of  England,  i.  289. 
Charles  X.  of  Sweden  aids  Poland,  i.  278. 
Charles  X.  of  France,  ii.  235. 

Expelled  from  France,  ii.  238. 
Charles  XI.  orders  restoration  of  crown  lands, 

ii.  9. 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  ii.  12. 

Success  at  Narva,  ii.  12. 

Receives  Marlborough  in  his   camp,  ii. 
14. 

Knight  rather  than  soldier,  ii.  15. 

Invades  Russia,  ii.  17. 

Breaks  Patkul  upon  wheel,  it.  17. 

Sufferings  of  army,  1709,  ii.  18. 

Defeated  and  wounded  at  Pultowa,  ii. 
19. 

A  fugitive  with  Mazeppa,  ii.  20. 

Killed,  1718,  ii.  46. 
Charlotte  of  Brunswick  marries  Alexis,  ii.  48. 
Chatillon-sur-Seine,  congress  of,  ii.  198. 
Chemiaka,  treachery  and  death,  i.  158,  159. 
Cheremetief,  Russian  cavalry  commander,  ii 

11,24. 
China,  Russian  treaty,  11.  57,  236. 

"  Opium  war  "  with  England,  ii.  236. 
Chinese  description  of  the  Ta-tzis,  i.  113. 
Choiseul,  minister  of  Louis  XV.,  ii.  92. 
Cholera,  outbreak,  ii.  238. 
Chouiskis,  leaders  of  faction,  i.  185. 
Chouiski,   Skopine,   popularity  and  death,  I 
245. 


INDEX. 


3T9 


Chouiski,  Vassili  heads  revolt  against  Dmitri, 

i.  *43- 

Becomes  Tzar,  i.  244. 

Assailed  by  Tzar  of  Touchino,  i.  246. 

Alliance  with  Sweden,  i.  246. 

Dragged   prisoner  through  Warsaw,  i. 
250. 
Christianity,  progress  and  results,  i.  52,  67. 
Church,  combat  with  paganism,  i.  39. 
Church  of  Vassili  the  Blessed,  1.  230. 
Churches  of  Kief,  i.  64. 
Civil  wars,  i.  76,  78. 
Civilization  of  the  Slavs,  i.  43. 
Class  distinctions  in  Novgorod,  i.  101. 
Clergy.  Black,  i.,  213. 

White,  1.  213. 
Coalition  against  France,  strength,  ii.  193. 

Demands  regarding  France,  ii.  203. 
Coast-line  of  Western  Europe,  i.  13. 
Coins,  first  appearance,  i.  153 
Commerce  in  10th  cent.,  i.  102.  Seealso  i.  218. 
Commune  an  expansion  of  family,  i.  42. 
Congress  of  Princes  at  Loubetch,  i.  78. 
Conscription,  ii.  31. 
Constantine,  brother  cf  Alexander  I,  ii.  204. 

Renounces  the  crown,  ii.  226 

Mistakes  in  Poland,  ii.  238. 
Constantinople  besieged  by  Varangians,  \.  49. 

Gives  Christianity  to  Russia,  i.  67. 

Taken  by  Mahomet  II.,  i.   160. 

First  Russian  ambassador,  i.  173. 

Terrified  at  Russian  success,  ii.  94. 

Treaty  of  1783,  ii.    113. 

Mussulman  riot,  ii.  208. 
Contarini,  Venetian  ambassador,  i.  173 
Convents  as  prisons,  i.  213. 
Copenhagen,  bombardment,  1807,  ii.  i6». 
Cossack  life,  development,  i.  36. 

Take  Azof,  i.  261. 

Part  in  Russian  conflicts,  i.  261,  369, 

275.  *79. 
Revolt,  1706,  t.  306. 
Make  war  upon  French,  ii.  187. 
Black  Sea,  ii-  99. 
Dnieper,  i,  178,  191. 
Don  declare  for  Moscow,  i.    191.   Sts 
also  i.  241. 
Cracow  expels  Russian  garrison,  ii.  122. 

Taken  by  Prussians,  ii.  123 
Crimea,  becomes  deadly  enemy  of  Russia,  i. 
179. 

Composite  character  of  population,  i. 

161. 
Khanate  of,  i.  166. 
Ceded  to  Russia,  ii.  113, 
Turkish  rule  ended,  ii.  94. 
Crimean  war,  ii.  250. 
Croi,  Due  de,  general  of  Peter  the  Great,  ii. 

10. 
Cronstadt  founded,  ii.  13 
Ciartoryski,  Russian   minister,   ii.    147,  151, 
a  10. 

Daniel,  Prince  of  Galitch  seeks  alliance  with 

Rome,  i.  93. 
Daniel,  son  of  Roman,  i.  94. 
Daniel,  son  of  Alexander  Nevski,  i.  140. 
Danish  fleet,  seizure  by  English,  ii.  141. 

Question,  Nicholas  I.,  intervention,  ii. 

247- 
Dardanelles,  treaty  concerning,  11.  236. 
David  disputes  Volhynia  with  his  nephews,  i. 


Deity  of  Russian  Slavs,  i.  38. 
Debtors,  law  regarding,  i.  213. 
D'Engluen,  Due,  execution,  ii.  145. 
Denmark  forced  to  adhere  to  the  Coalition,  12 

195. 
Diderot,  11.  108. 
Diplomacy.     See  Russia. 
Directorate,  armies  of,  ii.  131. 
Dmitri,  son  of  Michael  of  Tver,  i.  143. 
Dmitri  Donskoi.i.  147,  152. 

Breaks  the  Tatar  power,  i.  151. 
Dmitri,  son  of  Ivan  IV.,  slain,  i.  235. 
Dmitri,  the  false,  i.  238. 

Heads  a  rebellion,  i.  239,  240. 
Proclaimed  Tzar,  i.  241. 
Character  and  death,  i.  243. 
Dmitri,  the  second,false,  i.  245. 
Dmitri,  third  false,  i.  244. 
Dnieper,  importance  to  Russia,  i.  19. 
Doktourof,  Gerasimus,  in  England,  i.  287. 
Dolgorouki,  George,  son  of   Vladimir   Mon 

omachus,  i.  81. 
Dolgoroukis  profit  by  the  revolution,  ii.  55. 
Dolgorouki,  Prince,  interview  with  Napoleon 

ii.  148. 
Domestic  manners  of  pagan  Russia,  i.  41. 
"  Domostroi,"  i.  221,  222,  223, 
Don,  the  commercial  importance,  t.  19,  20. 
Dorastol  (Silistria),  battle,  i.  55. 
D'Oubril,  sent  to  Paris,  ii.  146,  151. 
Drabans,  guards  of  Charles   XII.,  ii.  16. 
Drevlians,  subjection  by  Olga,  i.  51. 
Drovjina,  the  warriors  surrounding  the  prince, 

i.  65,  97,  211. 
Drunkenness,  prevalence  in  Russia,  i.   221  ; 

ii.  27. 
Dualism  among  the  ancient  tribes,  i.  31. 
Duckworth,  Admiral,  burns  Turkish  vessels, 

ii.  168. 


Education  under  Peter   the  Great,  ii.  35.  Set 

also,  ii.  ioi,  213,  230. 
Education,  primary,  ii.  275. 
Edward  VI.,  of  England,   expedition,  1.   203. 
Egypt  revolts  against  Turkey,  ii.  94. 
Elizabeth    Petrovna,   daughter  of   Peter  tho 
Great,  ii.  55. 

Plans  for  French  marriage,  ii.  46. 

Declared  empress,  ii.  70. 

Names  her  nephew  heir,  ii.  71. 

Hatred  of  King  Frederic,  ii.  73. 

Lessens  power  of  Prussia,  ii.  75. 

Death,  ii.  75. 

Review  of  her  reign,  ii.  76. 

Elizabeth,    Queen,   signs    treaty    with 
Ivan  iV.,  1.  205. 
England  opens  White  Sea  to  Russia,  i.  ao3- 

Sends  envoys  to  Russia,  i.  205. 

Asks  free  passage  to  Persia,  i.  156,  259. 

Services  to  Russia,  i.  258. 

Compromise  with  Russia,  ii.  142. 

Refuses  to  guarantee  Russian  loan,  ii, 

i55- 

Supports  Russian  policy  toward  France 
ii.  203. 

Opium  war  in  China,  ii.  236. 
F.nglish  fleet  repulsed  by  Turks,  ii.  155. 

In  the  Dardanelles,  ii.  168. 
Entail  abolished  by  Anne  Ivanovna.  ii.  63. 
Erfurt,  terms  of  convention,  1808,  ii.  163. 
Esthonia  frightfully  devastated,  ii.  13. 
Ethnography  of  Russia,  i.  24. 


320 


INDEX. 


Eupatoria,  battle  of,  ii.  151. 
Europe,  unequal  division,  i.  13. 

Terror-stricken  by  Tatar  conquests,  i. 
118. 

In  15th  and  16th  cents.,  i.  161,  208- 

Watches  Sweden,  ii.  14. 

Equilibrium  of,  ii.  203. 
Eylau,  battle  of,  ii.  153. 

Feodor  Ivanovitch,  son  of  Ivan  IV.,  i._*3i._ 
Two  important  actions  of  his  reign,  i. 

Death,  1598,  1.  235. 

Feodor  succeeds  Alexis,  i.  290. 
Finland,  population,  i.  29. 

Conquest  by  Peter  the  Great,  ii.  43. 
See  also,  ii.  273. 
Finns,  the,  i.  28,  30. 
France  opens  relations  with  Russia,  \.  106. 

Asks  trade  privileges  of  Russia,  i.  256. 

Fails  to  make  alliance  with  Russia,  ii. 

Diplomatic  success  in  Sweden,  11.  96. 

Internal  affairs,  1791,  ii.  126. 

Coalitions  against,  u.  146,  151. 

Military  resources,  ii.   176. 

Return  of  Bourbon  princes,  ii.  199. 

Revolution  of  1830,  ii.  244. 

And    England  support  Turkey,    1854, 
ii.  2  jo. 
Francis  II.,  interview  with  Napoleon,  ii.  150. 
Franco-German  war,  ii.  2C3. 

Franco-Russian  Treaty,  first,  i.  259. 
Frankfort,  Conditions  of,  ii.  195. 
Frederic  II.  of  Prussia  defeated  by  Russians, 
ii.  75. 

Saved  by  death  of  Elizabeth,  ii.  75. 

Influence  with  Peter  III.,  ii.  83. 

Responsible  for  dismemberment  of  Po- 
land, ii.  94. 
Frederic   William  III.,  vacillating  policy,  ii, 

"*7-.    . 
Negotiations,  11.  190. 

Freemasonry,  spread  of,  ii.  221. 

French  influence  in  Russia,  see  France. 

Frontier  defence,  i.  67. 

Galitch,  i.  91. 

Great  Mongol  invasion,  i.  93. 
Galitsyne,  ii.  93. 
Gallicia  or  Red  Russia,  i.  75. 

Introduction  of  Jewish  element,  i.  9s. 

Austrian  uprising,  1846,  ii.  246. 
Gallicians  under  Hungarian  yoke,  i.  91. 

Throw  off  the  Hungarian  yoke,  i.  91. 
Gedimin,  Lithuanian  ruler,  1315-1340,  i.  131. 
Genghis-Khan,  tribes,  i.  113,  114- 
George  Dolgorouki  founds  Moscow,  i.  139. 
George  II.  founds  Nijni-Novgorod,  i.  90. 
George  Danielovitch,  i.  140. 

Struggle  with  the  house  of  Tver,  i.  140. 

Takes  a  Tatar  wife,  i.  141. 

Slain  by  Dmitri,  1325,  i.  142. 
Grand  Prince  of  Kief,  i.  82. 
George  the  Black,  ii.  168. 
Georgian  princes  ask  Russian  protection,  1.  205. 
German  invasions  and  settlements,  i.    107, 
in. 

Rule  in  Livonia,  i.  108.  [64. 

Sermans  effect  upon  Russian  civilization,  u. 

Fear  growing   strength   of   Russia,  i. 
191. 

In  Novgorod,  1.  102. 


Germany,  Russian  armies  enter,  ii.  43. 

Constitution  overthrown,  ii,  246. 
Glinskis,  maternal  relatives  of  Ivan   IV.,   ii 

186. 
Godounof,  Boris,  regency,  \.  231. 

Events  of  his  reign,  i.  236,  238. 

Death,  1605,  i.  241. 
Golden  Horde,  the,  i.  118. 
"Good  Companions,"  Novgorod  adventurers, 

i.   j2,  158,  206. 
Gortchakof,    Russian  general,   ii.    155.    249, 

256,  282. 
Grand  Prince,  ruler  of  Kief,  i.  77. 

In  12th  cent.,  i.  81. 
Great  Britain,  maritime  tyranny,  ii.  137, 
Great  Mongol  Companies,  i.  159. 
Grea'  Russia,  i.  34. 
Greece,  independence  recognized  by  Turkey, 

"i.235- 
Greek  art  and  barbaric  taste,  1.  25, 

Colonies,  i.  24. 
Greek  Church,  entrance  of  Russians,  i.  68. 
Greeks  check  advance  of  Russia,  i.  55. 
Grimm,  ii.  107. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  i.  257. 

Seeks  friendship  of  Russia,  i.  258. 
Gustavus  III.  re-establishes  royal  power  in 
Sweden,  ii.  96. 

Takes  up  arms  against  Russia,  ii.  115. 
Gustavus  IV.  of  Sweden,  ii.  164. 

Arrest  and  confinement,  ii.  165. 

Hamilton,  Seymour,  Sir,  ii.  248. 
Hanseatic  League,  i.  102. 
Hastings,  Lady  Mary,  cousin  of  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth, i.  206. 

Sought  in  marriage  by  Ivan  IV.,  i.  206. 
Helena  Ghnski,  i.  184,  185. 
Herat  besieged   by   Mohammed,  1837-38,  ii. 

237- 
Herodotus,  account  of  ancient  peoples,  1.  26. 
High  Council,  aims  to  govern  Russia,  ii.  58. 
Holland  united  to  French  empire,  ii.   173. 
Holy  Alliance,  act  of,  ii.  218. 
Horde,  the  Empire  dissolved,  i.  166. 
Horodlo,  congress  of,  1413,  i.  136. 
Hospitality  of  primitive  peoples,  i.  69. 
Human  sacrifices,  i.  31. 
Hungarians  in  Gallicia,  i.  91. 
Hydrographic  centre  of  Russia,  i.  18. 

Iaroslaf  the  Great,  son  of  Vladimir,  i.  61. 

Sole  master  of  Russia,  i.  62. 

Position  among  contemporary  princes, 
i.  63. 

Successors  of,  1.  77. 
Igelstrom,  Gen., Russian  officer,  ii.  122. 
Igor,  son  of  Rurik,  i.  49. 

Attacks  Kief,  50. 

Expedition  against  Tzargrad,  i.  50. 

Assassinated  by  the  Drevlians,  i.  51. 
India,  English  rule  in,  ii.  138. 
Inkerman,  battle  of,  ii.  251. 
Innocent  III,    seeks   conversion  of  Roman, 

Inoculation  introduced,  11.  106. 
IonianIsles.il.  130,  151.  . 

Irmak  Timofeevitch,  conquistador  ot  Siberia, 

i.  206. 
Isiaslaf,  grandson  of  Monomachus,  i,  77,  81. 

Called  to  throne  of  Kief,  i.  81. 

Defeated  at  Pereiaslavl,  i.  82. 

Operations  in  Kief,  i.  82. 


WDEX. 


321 


Italians  in  Russia,  i.  172. 
Italy  furnishes  artists  and  artizans,  i.  230. 
Ivan  Kalita,  brother  of  George  Danielovtch,  1. 
142. 

Establishes  supremacy  of   Moscow,   i. 

MS- 
Ivan  II.,      the  Debonnaire,"  i.  146. 
Iya~  III.   the  Great,  character,  i.  162. 

Accomplishes  submission  of  Novgorod, 
i.  162,  164. 

Undertakes  conquest  of  Northern  Rus- 
sia, i.  165. 

Friendship  for  Mengli-Ghirei,  i.  167. 

Promotes  Tatar  rivalries,  i.  167. 

Refuses  tribute  to  the  Horde,  i.  167. 

As  Prince  of  Bulgaria,  i.  168. 

Reconquers  portion  of  Western  Russia, 
i.  j  71. 

Marries  a  Byzantine  princess,  i.  172. 

Compared  to  l.ouis  XI.,  i.  173. 

Exchanges     embassies    with     Eastern 
Europe,  i.  173. 

Review  of  his  career,  i.  173. 
Iran  IV.,  (the  Terrible),  i.  182. 

Takes  title  of  Tzar,  i.  182,  186. 

Childhood  and  youth,  i.  185. 

Marries   into   family   of    Romanof,    i. 
187. 

Besieges  and  conquers  Kazan,  1.  189. 

Conquers  Astrakhan,  i.  190. 

Seeks  direct   relations  with   Europe,  i. 

Treachery  revealed   during    illness,   1. 

193- 
Banishes  Silvester  and  Adachef,  i.  193. 
Intrigues  of  the  boyards,  i.  193. 
Quits  Moscow,  i.   196. 
Resumes  the  crown  on  his   own  con- 
ditions, i.  196. 
His  reign  of  terror,  i.  197. 
Synodical  letter,  i.  198. 
Correspondence  with  Queen  Elizabeth, 

i.  198 
Curious  memorial  of  his  vengeance,  i. 

198. 
Captures  Polotsk,  1563,  i.  199. 
Submits    Poland's     proposition    to    a 

States-general,  i.  199. 
Makes  Magnus  King  of  Livonia,  i.  199. 
Establishes  towns  on  Dnieper,  i.  200. 
Covets  the  crown  of  Poland,  i.  201. 
Cedes  Livonia  to  Poland,  i.  202. 
Implores  mediation    of   Pope   Gregory 

III.,  i.  202. 
Authorizes  trade  with  England,  i.  203. 
Treaty  with  Queen  Elizabeth,  i.  205. 
Desires  to  make  an  English  marriage, 

i.  206. 
Conquest  of  Siberia,  i.  206. 
Review  of  his  work  in  Russia,  i.  »07« 
Slays  his  son  Ivan,  i.  208. 
Killed  by  his  warders,  ii.  86. 


Jagellon,  son  of  Olgerd,  i.  133. 

Receives  crown  of  Poland,  i.  134. 
Tanissari»s,  Servian,  ii.  167. 
Japan  cedes  Saghalien,  ii.   281. 
Jenkinson,  English  sailor  and  diplomat,  i.  104, 
205. 

Distrusted  by  Persia,  1.  205. 
Jesuits,  intrigues  in  Poland,  i.  265. 

Banished  by  Peter  the  Great,  ii.  jj. 


Jews  pillaged  at  Kief,  i.  79. 

Expulsion  during  reign  of  Elizabeth,  e 

Job,  favorite  of  Godounof,  i.  236,  240. 
Joseph  II.,  Alliance  with  Russia,  ii.  113. 

Death  of,  ii.  116 
Joubert,  French  general,  ii.  133. 
Judiciary  the,  i,  2:2. 


Kalevy-poeg.  the,  i.  110. 
Kalisch,  Treaty  of,  ii.  191. 
Kalka,  the  battle  of,  i.  114. 
Kalmucks,  i.  33  ;  ii.  38.^ 
Kalmuck-Torgaouts  retire  to  China,  ii.  q$. 
Kavgadi,  Mongol  general,  i.  141. 
Kars,  ii.  257. 
Kashgar,  ii.  280. 
Kaufman,  General,  ii.  280. 
Kazan,  Tzarate  of,  i.  166. 

Conquered  by  Ivan  IV.,  i.  188. 

Political  consequences  of  surrender,  i, 
190. 
Keremet,  divinity  between  good  and  evil,  i. 

3i- 
Kestout,  son  of  Gedimin,  i.  132. 
Khazars,  ancient  Finnish  people,  i.  ji. 

Empire  and  commerce,  i.  32. 

Religious  toleration,  t.  33. 

Civilization  of,  i.  79. 
Khiva,  ii.  237. 
Khylnof,  City  of,  5.  106. 
Kief,  city  of  Russia,  i.  19. 

Its  water  communications,  i.  19. 

After  death  of  laroslaf,  i.  64. 

Principality  of,  i.  73. 

Strife  for  throne,  1146-1154,  i.  81. 

Sacked  by  the  Polovtsi,  1203,  i.  83. 

Sacked  by  Tatars,  i.  117. 

Under  the  Lithuanians,  i.  131. 
Kievans,  respect  for  Monomachus,  i.  82. 
Kiptchak,  gradual  decay,  i.  149. 
Knout,  punishment  by,  ii.  77. 
Kolomna,  battle  of,  i.  1 16. 
Korosthenes,  city  of  the  Drevlians,  i.  51. 
Kosciuszko  wounded,  and  a  prisoner,  ii.  124. 

Thaddeus,  ii.   119.  121. 

Liberated  by  Paul  I.,  ii.  130- 
Kossuth,  Hungarians  under,  ii.  247. 
Kotzebue,  Captain,  explorations,  1815,  ii.  224. 
Koulikovo,  battle  of,  i.  151. 
Kourakine,  Russian  envoy  at  Paris,  ii.  173. 
Kourbski,  Andrew,   defection  to  Ivan  IV,  L 
194. 

Permits  defeat  of  Russians,  i.  194. 

Takes  refuge  in  Poland,  i.  195. 

Writings  in  exile,  i.  225. 
Kaurgans.     See  tumuli. 
Koutchouk-Kairnadji,  Peace  of  1774,  it.  95. 
Koutouzof,  Russian,  Gen.,  ii.    147,    181,  iSji 

188. 
Kremlin,  the,  of  Moscow,  i.  228. 

Destroyed  by  French,  ii.  187. 
Krijanitch,  Iouri,  learned  Slav,  i.  285. 
Krudener,  Madame  de,  ii.  203. 
Kunersdorff,  defeat  of  Frederic  by  Russian* 

ii.  75. 
Kutaieh,  treaty  of,  ii.  245. 


Ladoga  founded  by  Rurik,  i.  49. 
Ladoga,  Canal  of  the,  ii.  33. 
Landon,  Austrian  general,  ii.  116. 


322 


INDEX. 


I  am*uage,  dialectical  differences,  i.   34.  j 

Lapouk'hine,  Eudoxia,  first  wife  of  Peter  the 
Great,  n.  47. 

Banished  and  divorced,  ii.  47- 
Whipped  and  confined  in  New  Ladoga, 
ii.  49- 

Laps  or  Laplanders,  i.  29. 

Latin  missionaries  on  the  Baltic,  i.  107. 

Leipzig,  battle  of,  ii.  194- 

Leopold  II.  of  Austria,  ii.  116. 

Abandons  war  against  Turkey,  11.  1  »6. 

Lestocq,  Prussian  general,  ii.  152. 

Lewenhaupt,  Swedish  general,  ii.  17. 

Letts,  ii.  107.  .    _      .     .. 

L'Hdpital,  French  Ambassador  in  Russia,  11. 

74-         „  „     _, 
Library  of  St.  Petersburg,  11.  224. 
Literature,  Byzantine  in  Russia,  1.  71. 

Of  Novgorod,   i.  103. 

Development  under  Catherine   II.,  ii, 

I09* 
Under  Alexander   I.,  ii.  222. 
Of  modern  Russia,  ii.  276. 
Lithuania  under  Olgerd  and  Kestout,  i.  132. 
Ceases  to  be  formidable,  i,  137. 
Becomes  Polish,  i.  137. 
Defections,  j.  170. 
Lithuanian  tribes,  i.  107,  130.     _ 

Wars,  effect  on  Europe,  i.  178. 
Lithuanians,  the,  i,  28. 
Religion,  i.  130. 
Summary  conversion,  i.  134. 
Little  Russia,  i.  34. 
Little  Russia.     See  also  Russia. 
Livonia,  frightful  devastation,  ii.  ij. 
Ceded  to  Poland,  i.  202. 
Devastation,  ii.  13. 
Livonian  Knights,  i.  108. 
Livonian  order,  i.  161,  igt. 

War  with  Ivan  IV.,i.  192. 
Dissolved,  i.  199. 
Livonians,  the,  i,  29. 

Converted  to  Christianity,  i.  107. 
Revolt  against  missionaries,  i.  108. 
Lomonossof,  ii.  78. 
London,  treaty  of,  1827,  ii.  234. 

Treaty  of,  1852,  ii.  247- 
Loubetch,  town  on  the  Dnieper,  i.  78. 
Louis  XIV.   postpones  visit    of    Peter  the 

Great,  i.  302.  , 

Louis    XV.,    private     correspondence    with 
Elizabeth  of  Russia,  ii.  74. 

Projected   marriage  with   Elizabeth  of 
Russia,  ii.  46,  56. 
Louis  XVIII.  enters  the  Louvre,  ii.  aoo. 
Louis  Philippe,  ii.  244. 
Lublin,  union  of.  i.  200,  364. 
Lutzen,  battle  of,  ii.  191. 


Macdonald.  French  general,  ii.  1J3. 
Magistrates  of  Novgorod,  i.  100. 
Magnus,  Danish  prince,  1.  199. 
Magyars,  founders  of  Hungary,  1.  jo. 
Mahmoud,  Sultan,  ii.  234. 
Malta,  knights  of,  ii.  131. 

Reduction  by  Bonaparte,  ii.  131. 
Mamai,  Tatar  ruler,  i.  149. 
Manufactures,  ii.  34,  274.  # 

Marfa,  widow  of  possadnik  Boretski,  1.    163. 

Heads  anti-Muscovite  party,  i.  163. 


Marina,  wife  ot  false  Dmitri,  i.  239,  254,  255. 
Markof,  Russian  representative  at   Paris,  11. 

145- 
Marriage,  1.  31. 

Massena,  French  general,  ii.  134. 
Maurice  de  Saxe,  son  of  Augustus,  ii.  56. 

Fruitless  defence  of  Duchy  of  Cour- 
land,  ii.  56. 
Maximus  the  Greek,  i.  180. 
Mazeppa,  i.  306. 

Goes  over  to  the  Swedes,  i.  308. 
Intrigues  with  King  of  Poland,  i.  308. 
Opinion  of  Charles  XII.,  ii.  16. 
Menchikof,  Russian  leader,  ii.  17,  24,  54. 

Arrested  and  banished,  ii.  55. 
Mengli-Ghirei,  Tatar  leader,  i.  167. 

Declares  against  Vassili,  i.  178. 
Merrick,  John,  ambassador  of  James  I.,  L 
256. 

Seeks    commercial    concessions    from 
Russia,  i.  256,  259.  _ 
Metternich,  negotiations  with  Napoleon,  ii. 

196.     See  also  ii.  198,  207,217. 
Michael  of  Tver,  i.  140. 

Assassinated,  13 19,  i.  142. 
Michael  Romanof  assembles  the  EsUtes,  u 

257- 
Migrations  of  the  husbandmen,  1.  36. 
Mikouline,  Gregory,  i.  237. 
Military  organization  of  Slavs,  1.  44. 

System  of  Russia,  ii.  277. 
Militia  of  Novgorod,  i.  99. 
Miloradovitch,  ii.  147,  227. 
Minine,  i.  251,  253. 
Mirovitch,  conspiracy,  ii.  86. 
Missionaries,  Byzantine,  i.  58. 
Moldavia,  ii.  234,  247. 
Mongol  invasion  of  Galitch,  i.  93. 

Influence  upon  Russian   development, 
i.  127.     See  also  Tatars. 
Monomachus  leaves  paper  of  instructions,  i. 
80.     See  also  Vladimir.  .    , 

Monomachivitches  descendants  of  Vladimir 

Monomachus,  1.  81. 
Monuments  of  ancient  tribes,  i.  29,  42. 
Mordvians,  the,  i.  30. 
Morea,  French  in  the,  ii.  256. 
Morozof,  counsellor  of  Alexis,  i.  272. 
Moscow,  origin,  i.  139. 

Besieged  by  Tatars,  i.  152. 

First  coronation  of  Grand   Prince,  L 

•5&-  .     . 

Becomes  capital  of  Russia,  1.  156. 

Evacuated  and  burned  by  the  French, 
ii.  187. 

Entry  of  French  army,  ii.  186. 

Terrible  fire,  1547,  '•  l87- 

Burned  by  the  Tatars,  i.  200. 

During  the  Renaissance,  i.  227. 

Foreign  ambassadors,  i.  216. 

December  insurrection,  ii.  227. 

Revolts  against  Sigismond,  i.  249. 

Burned  by  the  Poles,  i.  250. 

Terrible  revolt,  1648,  i.  273. 

An  academy  established,  i.  262. 

Return  of  the  court,  ii.  56. 

Insurrection,  ii.  97. 

Plague  of,  1771,  ii.  97-       .       „ 
Moskowa,  battle  of.     See  Borodino,  11.  181. 
Mountain  systems  of  Europe,  i.  14. 
Mstislaf  the  Brave,  prince  of  Smolensk,  l  tb, 
<& 


INDEX. 


323 


Mstislaf  the  Brave  defeats  Andrew  of  Souzdal 

at  Vychegorod,  i.  86. 
Mstislaf  the  Bold,  i.  98. 
Munich,  Austrian  marshal,  ii.  65,  68. 
Murat,  French  general,  ii.  148. 
Muscovite  Empire,  the,  i.  34. 
Muscovites,  i.  34.      See  also  Russians. 
Muscovy,  how  formed,  i.  34. 

Extent  in  1472,  i.  165. 

Extends  her  frontier,  i.   170. 

Lower  classes,  i.  217. 
Muscovy.  See  also  Russia. 
Mythology  of  Russia,  i.  38. 


Naples,  French  expelled  from,  ii.   133. 
Napoleon  crowned  Emperor,  ii.  146. 

Diplomatic  activity,  ii.  155. 

And   Alexander   I.  at  Tilsit,  1807,    ii. 
>57- 

War  with  Austria,  ii.  166. 

Creates  parliamentary  Poland,  ii.  171. 

Suestion  of  Russian  marriage,  ii.  172. 
onsummates  the  Austrian   marriage, 
ii.  172. 

Invasion  of  Russia,  ii.  178. 

Enters  Moscow,  ii.  186. 

Evacuates  Moscow,  ii.  187. 

Crosses  the  Berezina,  ii.  189. 

Reorganizes  his  army,  ii.  191. 

Destruction  of  the  rear  guard,  ii.  194. 

Battle  of  Leipzig,  ii.  194. 

Defection  of  German  allies,  ii,  195. 

Defeats  army  of  Silesia,  ii.  197. 

Dethronement  proclaimed,  ii.  200. 

Abdication  at  Fontainebleau,  ii.  200. 

Exile  to  Elba,  ii.  200. 

Return  to  Paris,  ii.  202. 
Narva,  siege  of,  ii.  10. 
Navarino,  battle,  1827,  ii.  234. 
Navy,  Russian.     See  Russia. 
Nepei,    Osip,   first   Russian    ambassador    to 

England,  i.  204. 
Nesselrode,  Count,  ii.  234. 
Nestor's  list  of  Russian  Slavs,  1.  27. 
Neva,  importance  as  a  river,  i.  21. 

The,  battle  of,  i.  120. 
Newspaper,  first,  ii.  36.     See  also  ii.  276. 
Ney,  French  marshal,  ii.  153,  187. 

Covers  retreat  of  the  French,  ii.  189. 
Nicholas  I.,  accession,  ii.  226. 

Character,  ii.  228. 

Codification  of  the  laws,  ii.  229. 

Builds  the   first   Russian   railway*,  ii. 
230. 

Schools  established,  ii.  230. 

Advance  of  literature,  ii.  232. 

Ultimatum  to  the  Divan,  ii.  233. 

Declares  war  on  Turkey,  ii.  235. 

Declares  war  against  Khiva,  ii.  236. 

Relations  with  Louis    Philippe,  ii.  244. 

Intervention  in  European  affairs,  1848, 
11.  247. 

Schemes  regarding  Turkey,  ii.  248. 

Death,  ii.  254. 
Nicon,  ecclesiastical  reforms,  i.  283. 
Nijni-Novgorod  founded,  1220.  5.  90. 
Nobility,  Russian,  ii.  25. 
Nogais,  Horde  of,  i.  166. 
Nomad  races  in  Russia,  i.  74,  83. 
Normans  of  Russia,  i.  47. 


Novgorod,  city  of  Russia,  i.  18. 

Geographical  position,  i.  18. 

Siege,  1170,  i.  85. 

Reduced  to   starva-tion    by    Iaroslai.  I 
S9. 

Description,  i.  95. 

A  political  centre,  i.  95. 

Commercial  interests,  i.  98. 

Institutions,  i.  99. 

Frequent  change  of  rulers,  i.  99. 

Reduced  by  famine  and  fire,  i.  99. 

Magistrates,  i.   100. 

Letter  of  Justice,  1471,  i.   101. 

Constitution  considered  socially,  i.  10; 

Commerce  of,  i.  101. 

Religion  and  literatuie,  i.  102. 

Pays  tribute  to  Dmitri  Donskoi,  i.  i»,s 

The  Republic  dies,  1478,  i.  164. 
Nystad,  peace  of,  1721,  ii.  46. 

Odessa,  bombardment  of,  ii.  250. 
Office  under  the  Tzar,  i.  211. 
Oldenburg,  ii.  157. 
Oleg  succeeds  Rurik,  i.  49. 

Invasion  of  Tzargrad,  907,  i.  50. 
Oleg  Sviatoslavitch,  prince  of  nth  cent.,  i.  78 
Oleg  of  Riazan,  i.  149. 
Olga,  widow  of  Igor,  i.  51. 

Assumes  the  regency,  i.  51. 
Converted  to  Christianity,  i.  51. 
Besieges  Korosthenes,  i.  51. 
Olgerd,  son  of  Gedinim,  i.  132. 
Olgovitches,  decendants  of  Oleg  of  Tchernigo^ 

1.  81. 
Oktai,  second  Emperor  of  Tatars,  i.  118. 
Orenburg,  ii.  138. 
Oreof,   Alexis,   amnihilates  Turkish  fleet  ai 

Tchesme,  ii.  94. 
Orlof,  Gregory,  favorite  of  Catherine  II.,  ii. 

100. 
Orthography,  ii.  286. 
Ostermann,  ii.  154,  183. 
Otrepief,  Gregory.    See  Dmitri,  false,  i.  238. 
Oural,  Tatar  signification,  i.  14. 

Pagan  districts  of  the  Volga,  i.  31. 

Ceremonies,  i.  60. 
Painting,  i.  226. 
Palmerston,  Lord,  ii.  257. 
Paper  replaces  parchment,  i.  146. 
Paris,  entrance  of  the  allies,  ii.  199. 
Treaty  of,  ii.  200. 
Senate    proclaims     dethronement    of 

Napoleon,  ii.  200. 
Treaty  of,  1856,  ii.  257. 
Patkul,  John  Reinhold,  ii.  9. 

Plans  attack  upon  Sweden,  ii.  10. 
Death  upon  the  wheel,  ii.  17. 
Patriarchal  principle  among  Slavs,  i.  41. 

Organization  of  family,  i.  220. 
Patriarchate  established,  i.  235. 
Patzinaks,  a  barbarian  people,  i.  S3-     Seeals* 

Black. 
Paul,  Grand  Duke,  tour  of,  1784,  il.  113. 

See  also  Paul  I. 
Paul  I.  peace  policy,  ii.  128. 

Craze  for  Prussian  methods,  ii.  129. 
Peculiar  foreign  policy,  ii.   130. 
Difficulties  with  France,  ii.  130. 
Offers  asylum  to  Louis  XVTII.,  ii.  130, 
Alliance  with  Turkey,  ii.  131* 


324 


INDEX. 


Alliance  with  Bonaparte,  ii.  138. 

Expedition   against  English  India,   ii. 
138. 

Orders  Louis  XVIII.  to  quit  Mittau,  ii. 
138. 

Death,  1801,  ii.  141. 
Peasant  population,  i.  217,  233.      See  also 

Serfs. 
Penal  legislation,  i.  213. 
Pereiaslaf,  Bulgarian  Capital,  i.  54. 
Permia,  i.  30. 

Permian  branch  of  Finnish  nation,  i.  30. 
Permians,  civilization  of,  i.  30. 
Persia,  mistress  of  the  Caspian,  ii.  47. 

Seeks  to  regain   Georgia  and  the  Cau- 
casus, ii.  169. 

Under  Russian  influence,  ii  237. 
Peter  the  Great,  i.  293. 

Youth  and  education,  i.  296. 

Intrigues  of  his  sister  Sophia,  L  292. 

Democratic  conduct,  i.  298. 

Goes  to  Arkhangel,  i.  299. 

Creates  a  navy,  1.  300. 

Departs  for  Western  Europe,  i,  301. 

At  the  German  courts,  i.  301. 

As  a  ship  carpenter,  i.  302. 

Goes  to  London,  i.  302. 

Tastes  offend  the  Russians,  i.  303. 

Revolt  and  destruction  of  the   Streltsi, 
>•  3°3- 

Revolt  of  the  Cossacks,  i.  306. 

Confidence  in  Mazeppa,  i.  307. 

Convinced  of  Mazeppa's  treason,  i.  308. 

Declares  war  against  Sweden,  ii.  19. 

Profits  by  the  lesson  of  Narva,  ii.   12. 

Seeks  possession  of  Neva,  ii.  13. 

Internal  factions,  ii.  13,  17. 

Victory  over  Swedes,  ii.  13. 

Tries  to  negotiate  with   Charles  XII., 
ii.  17. 

Reception  of  Swedish  Generals,  ii.  20. 

Reforms  of,  ii.  22. 

Chosen  companions  of,  ii.  24. 

War  against  seclusion  of  women,  ii.  26. 

Provincial  governments,  ii.  28. 

Creates  State  inquisition,  ii,  30. 

Creates  the  Russian  alphabet,  ii.  36. 

Education  of  the  people,  ii.  35. 

Founds  St.  Petersburg,  ii.  37. 

War  with  Turks,  ii.  41. 

Completes  conquest  of   Livonia    and 
Esthonia,  ii.  41. 

Goes  to  Versailles,  ii.  43. 

His  allies  fear  his  ambition,  ii.  43. 

Expels  Swedes  from  Pomerania,  ii.  43. 

Compels  Sweden  to  treat,  ii.  46. 

Domestic  tragedies,  ii.  47. 

Desires  a  port  on  the  Caspian,  ii.  47. 

Marries  a  Lutheran  slave,  ii.  50. 

Children  by  second  marriage,  ii.  51. 

Will  of,  ii.  51. 

Claims  right  to  name  successor,  ii.  51. 

Death,  ii.  51. 
Peter  II.,  grandson  of  Peter  the  Great,  ii.  54. 

Treaty  of  commerce  with  Chinese  Em- 
pire, ii.  57. 

Dies  of  small-pox,  ii.  56. 
Peter  III.,  first  measures,  ii.  81. 

Private  life.  ii.  8j. 

Foreign  policy,  ii.  85. 

Deposition  and  death,  ii.  85. 

The  false,  ii   98. 


Philarete,  father  of  Michael  Romanof,  i.  253, 

258,  262. 
Piracy,  ii.  77. 
Plateaus  of  Russia,  i.  15. 
Pleswitt,  armistice  of,  ii.  192. 
Poetry.     See  Literature. 
Poland,  formation  of,  i.  27. 

Absorbs  Galitch,  i.  94. 

Unites  with  Lithuania,  5.  133. 

Alliance  with  Livonian  Order,  i.  193. 

Contest  for  the  throne,  i.  200. 

Henry   de   Valois  proclaimed   king,  i 
201. 

Under  Batory,  i.  202. 

Cession  of  Livonia,  1582,  i.  202. 

National    and    religious   prejudices,  L 
232. 

Rupture  with  Sweden,  i.  233. 

Perfidious  policy,  i.  246. 

Renders   assistance  to  false  Tzars,  I 
*44.  247- 

Truce  with  Russia,  i.  257. 

Influence  of  the  Jesuits,  i.  265. 

Reduced  by  Russian  conquests,  i.  278. 

Dismemberment  considered,  ii.  57. 

Question  of  succession,  1733,  ii.  64. 

Thrice  dismembered,  ii.  88. 

Causes  of  her  ruin,  ii.  88,  89. 

System  of  agriculture,  ii.  90. 

Religious  dissensions,  ii.  90. 

The  Confederation,  ii.  91. 

Dismemberment,  ii.  94. 

Needful  reforms,  1773-1791,  ii.  117. 

Constitution  abolished,  ii.  119. 

Deserted  by  her  allies,  ii.  119. 

Second  partition,  ii.  117. 

Compelled  to  legalize  partition,  ii.  120, 

Tribunal  punishes  the  traitors,  ii.  123. 

Third  partition,  ii.  124. 

Under  King  of  Saxony^  ii.  170. 

Constitution  of,  1807,  ii.  170. 

Kingdom  re-established,  in  177. 

Fourth  partition,  ii.  201. 

Restoration,  181 5,  ii.  205. 

Insurrection  of,  183 1,  ii.  239. 

Intervention  of  the  western  powers,  ii. 

Poles,  the,  of  Slav  origin,  i.  28. 
Police,  ii.  29. 

Poliessa  or  Russian  forest,  i.  21. 
Polish  succession,  war  of,  ii.  65. 
Renaissance,  ii.  117. 
Slavs,  i.  28. 
Political  effect  of  battle  of  Eylau,  ii.  154. 
Polotsk  taken  by  Ivan  IV.,  i.  199. 
Recapture  by  Batory,  i.  201. 
Polovtsi  invasions,  i.  72. 
Polovtsi,  a  barbarian  tribe,  i.  78. 
Polygamy,  i.  41. 
Pope  Eugenius  IV.,  i.  :6o. 

Vainly  seeks  union  of  the  two  churches, 
i.  160. 
Pope  Gregory  III.  as  mediator,  i.  202. 
Possevino,   Antonio,  account  of  Ivan  IV.,  i. 

202. 
Potemkine,  favorite  of  Catherine  II.,  99,  100, 

114,  116. 
Potsdam,  treaty  of,  ii.  147. 
Pougatchef,  Emilian,  Cossack,    revolt,  ii.  9* 

98. 
Praga,  taken  by  assault,  ii.  114 
Pratxen,  battle  of,  ii.  149, 


INDEX. 


325 


Preobrajenskoe,  treaty  of,  ii.  to. 
Presburg,  treaty  of,  ii.  150. 
Press,  censorship  of,  ii.  231. 
Printing  protected  by  Ivan  IV.,  i.  1*3. 
Printing,  ii.36. 
Property,  division  of,  ii.  26. 
Prussia  neutral  on  the  Polish   succession,  ii. 
64. 

Dangerous  to  Russia,  ij.  73. 

Alliance  with  Russia,  ii.  83. 

Insatiable  greed;  ii.  8q. 

Position  on  Polish  question,  ii.  94. 

Fall  consummated  at  Tilsit,  ii.  157. 

Value  of  the  Russian  alliance,  ii.  284. 
Prussians  take  Cracow,  ii.   123. 

Defeated  by  French,  1806,  ii.  151 
Pruth,  treaty  of,  1711,  ii.  42. 
Pskof,  the  old  town  of,  i.  104. 
Pultowa,  siege  of,  ii.  18. 

Political  result  of  Russian  victory,  ii.  ae. 
Puritans,  Russian,  i.  35. 

Railways,  ii.  230,  274. 

Rainfall  in  Russia,  i.  17. 

Raskolniks,  the,  ii.  212. 

Red  Russia,  i-  34. 

Reforms  of  Peter  the  Great,  ii.  aa. 

Religion  of  ancient  tribes,  i.  31. 

Revenues  of  the  State,  1.  211. 

Revolution  of  1848,  ii.  246. 

Riazan,  battle  of.  i.  115. 

Richelieu,  Due  de,   succeeds   Talleyrand,  ii. 

203,  204. 
Riga,  foundation  laid,  1200,  1.  108. 
Roman,   prince   of   Volhynia,  conquers  Ga- 

Htch,  i.  91. _ 
Romanof,  Michael,  elected  Tzar,  i.  253. 
Romanof,  Anastasia,  wife  of  Ivan  IV.,  i.  187. 
Romanofs,  opposition  of  the  boyards,  i.  193. 
Rome,  relations  with  Russia,  i.  68,  108,  132, 

160, 202. 
Rostopchine,  Count,   Governor  of   Moscow, 

ii.  258. 
Roumania,  ii.  258. 
Rousskaia  Pravda,  or  Code  of  legislation,  i. 

63- 

Rurik,  reign  of,  i.  49. 

Russia,  geographical^  extent,  i.  13. 

Coast  waters,  i.  13. 

Inequalities  of  soil,  i.  15. 

Climate,  i.  16. 

Rivers,  i.  18. 

Its  four  zones,  i.  21. 

Barbarism  of  inland  tribes,  !.  25. 

Primitive  peoples,  i.  30. 

Still  pagan  in  parts,  i.  31. 

Its  real  aborigines,  i.  32. 

How  it  was  colonized,  i.  33. 

Beginning  of  true  history,  i.  48. 

Byzantine  influence,  i.  58. 

Receives  Christianity  from   Constanti- 
nople, i.  67. 

Has  no  alliance  with  Rome,  i.  68. 

Divided  into  principalities,  i,  72. 

Natural  elements  of  cohesion,  i.  76. 

Civil  wars,  i.  76. 

Ecclesiastical  constitution,  i.  103. 

Subjugated  by  Mongols,  13th  cent.,  i. 
112. 

Under  the  Mongol  yoke,  i.    117,123, 
no.. 


Relations  with  Rome,  i.  13a. 
Establishes  relations  with  the  Watt,  i 
_  153- 

End  of  the  Tatar  yoke,  i.  166. 
New  armorial  bearings,  i.  172. 
Relations  with  Western  Europe,  i.  173. 

„  f78:        . 

Growing    importance     as     a     political 

power,  i.  180 
Unity  accomplished,  i.  183. 
Commercial  treaty  with  Sweden,  1.  191. 
Excites  jealousy  of  Germany,  i.  191. 
Aims  at  control  of  the  Baltic,  i.  191. 
Frontier  war  with  Sweden,  1554,  i.  191. 
Commercial  relations  with    England,  i. 

204. 
Sends  ambassador  to  England,  i.  204. 
Receives  envoys  from  Holland,   Spain, 

and  Italy,  i.  206. 
The  power  of  family,  i.  207 
In  16th  and  17th  centuries,  i.  209. 
Civilization  retarded   by  her  neighbor*, 

i.  209. 
State  revenues,  i.  211. 
Courts  of  civil  justice,  i.  212. 
Penal  legislation,  i.  213. 
Legislation  in  matter  of  debts,  i.  813. 
The  national  army,  i.  214. 
Seeks  regular  relations    with    foreign 

Powers,  i.  215. 
Ambassadors   to    European   Courts,   i. 

216. 
Treatment  of  foreign  Ambassadors,  i. 

216. 
Rural  classes,  i.  217. 
Commerce,  i.  218. 
Towns,  i.  218. 
Domestic  Slavery,  i.  219. 
Seclusion  of  women,  i.  219. 
Superstitions,  i.  222. 
Literature,  i.  223. 
Literature  of  oral  tradition,  i.  225. 
General  prevalence  of  drunkenness,  i. 

221. 
Renaissance  15th  to  17th  cent  ,  i.  226. 
Resumes  war  with  Sweden,  i.  233. 
Famine,  1601-1604,  i,  238. 
And  Austria,  i.  232. 
Elements  of  disorder,  i.  239. 
Torn  by  civil  war,  i.  250. 
National   uprising   against    Poland,   i. 

251- 
At  accession  of  the  Romanofs,  i.  254. 
Concentrates  forces  against   Poland,  i. 

257. 
Asks  help  from  Holland  and  England, 

,'■  25S- 
Concludes  peace  with  Sweden,  1617, 1. 

257- 

Relations  with  Europe,  1.  258. 
Asks  aid  of  Louis  XIII.  1615,  i.  259. 
Renews  war  against  Poland,  i.  260. 
Parliamentary  history,  i.  261. 
Privilege  granted  to  foreigners,  i.  261. 
Desires  control  of  Black  Sea,  i.  261. 
Forbids  use  of  tobacco,  i.  262. 
The  bishops  struggle  with  Catholicism, 

i.  266. 
Makes  successful  war  on  Poland,  i.  277. 
Revolution  under  Stenko  Razine,  i.  28a. 
Writers  of  the  17th  cent.,  i.  384. 
Accession  of  Peter  the  Great,  i.  sqj. 


326 


INDEX. 


Declares  herself  a  European  Power,  ii. 

20. 
Rural  population,  ii.  14. 
Rights  of  foreigners,  ii.  25. 
Obligations  of  nobility,  ii.  25. 
Seeks  Alliance  with  France,  ii.  46. 
Under  Catherine,  ii.  54. 
War  of  quadruple  alliance,  ii.  56. 
Aristocratic  constitution   attempted,  ii. 

59- 
War  with  Turks,  ii.  66. 
Significance   of  revolution  of   1741,  ii. 

.  71-  .  . 

On  the  Austrian  succession,  ii.  72. 
Army  crosses  Prussian  frontier,  ii.  74. 
Direct  relations  with  France,  ii.  79. 
Diplomatic  complications,  ii.  74. 
Restoration    of  religious  tolerance,   ii. 

105. 
Annexes  the  Crimea,  ii.  112. 
During  American  war,  1780,  ii.  in. 
Plans  dismemberment  of  Turkey,   ii. 

"3- 

Quadruple  alliance,  ii.  126. 

Rupture  with  France,  ii.  126. 

Joins  coalition,  ii.  131. 

First  war  with  Napoleon,  ii.  142. 

Popular  feeling   against  Napoleon,  ii. 

160. 
War  against  Austria  a  comedy,  ii.  :66. 
Invasion  of  Moldavia,  ii.  168. 
Suffers  from  continental   blockade,  ii. 

_  174- 

Propagation  of  liberal  ideas,  ii.  220. 

Establishment  of  secret   societies,   ii 
221. 

Voyage  around  the  world,  1803,  ii.  224. 

Secures     commercial      access    to    the 
Black  Sea,  ii.  236 

Relations  with  China,  ii.  236. 

Possessions  in  Asia,  ii.  236. 

Polish  insurrection,  1831,  ii.  238. 

Influence  checked  by  France  and  Aus- 
tria, ii.  248. 

Attacked  in  all  her  seas,  ii.  250. 

Progress  during  reign  of  Alexander  II. 
ii.  274. 

Military  system,  ii.  277. 

Conquest  in  Asia,  ii.  278. 

Foreign  policy,  ii.  285. 
Russian  race,  extent  of,  i.  33. 

Instinct  of  emigration,  i.  35. 

Faculty  of  absorption,  i.  36. 

And  Anglo-Saxon  compared,  i.  3$. 

Academy,  ii.  109. 

Army,  foreign  mercenaries,  i.  215. 

Calendar,  ii.  286. 

Russian  Church,  i.  213. 
Russians  of  Slav  origin,  i.  28. 

Patriarchal  principle,  i.  41. 

Tribute  and    subjection  to  Tatars,  i. 
124. 

Intermarry  with  Tatars,  i.  126. 

Averse  to  innovation,  ii.  32. 

Enter  Berlin,  ii.  75. 

Dislike  to  Polish  allies,  ii.  166. 
Russification,  stages  of,  i.  37. 

St.  Petersburg,  relative  location,  i.  17. 

Foundation,, 1703,  ji.  37. 

Imperial  library,  ii._  224. 
S»ltw<1r>£.  riaria.  trial  of.  iL   ia%. 


Samoyedes,  the,  i.  29. 

Savary,  French  ambassador  to  Russia,  ii.  160. 

Saxo-Polish  conflict,  ii.  201. 

Saxony,  Augustus  of,  ii.  10. 

Scandinavian  armies,  decline  of,  ii.  72. 

Schamyl,  soldier  priest  of  Moslems,  ii.  237. 

Schonbrunn,  treaty  of,  ii.  151. 

Schouvalof,  Count  Ivan,  ii.  77. 

Science,  ii.  277. 

Scythia  of  Herodotus,  the,  i.  24. 

Scythian  worship  and  customs,  i.  25. 

Idiom  identified,  i.  25. 
Scythians,  the,  i.  25. 
Sebastopol,  siege  of,  ii.  250,  256. 
Secret  societies,  ii.  221. 
Segur,  Comtede,  ii.  113. 
Selim  III.,  ii.  167. 
Senate  established,  ii.  27. 
Serfs,  ii.  23,  260. 

Servia,  revolt  of  Janissaries,  ii.  167. 
Severia,  defection  to  Godounof,  i.  24a 
Severians,  country  of,  i.   43. 
Siberia  added  to  Russia,  i.  206. 

Begins  to  be  peopled,  ii.  77. 

Russian  survey  of  the  coast,  ii.  224. 
Sigismond  I.  reunites  crowns  of   Wilna  and 
Poland,  i.  177. 

Asks  truce  of  Ivan  IV.,  i.  199. 
Sigismond   Augustus   II.,   King   of   Poland, 

death,  1572,  i,  200. 
Sigismond  of   Sweden  elected  King  of  Po- 
land, i.  233. 

Designs  upon  throne  of  Russia,  i.  247, 
250. 

Demands  Russia  for  Vladislas,  i.  254. 

Dies,  1632,  i.  260. 
Silvester,  favorite  of  Ivan  IV.,  i.  187,  192. 

Treachery  and  banishment,  i.  193. 
Simeon  the  Proud,  son  of  Kalita,  i.  146. 
Sit,  the  battle  of,  i.  116. 
Slavery,  domestic,  i.  219.    . 
Slaves,  sale  of,  ii.  25. 
Slavs,  appearance  in  history,  i.  27. 

Towns  and  tribes,  i.  27. 

Geographical  distribution,  i.  27. 

Russian  and  Polish,  i.  28. 

Religion,  i.  38. 

Civilization,  i.  43. 

Race  extent,  i.  54. 

Tribes,  distribution,  i.  54. 

Tribes,  disappearance  of  ancient  names, 
i.  72. 

Law  of  succession,  i.  77. 
Smolensk,  principality  of,  i.  73. 

Political  importance,  i.  73. 

Taken  by  Poles,  i.  250. 
Social  conditions  from  9th  to  10th  cent.,  i.  67. 
Society  in  time  of  laroslaf,  i  65. 
Society  of  Virtue,  ii.  221. 
Sophia  Palaeologus  marries  Ivan  III.,  i.  171. 
Sophia,  sister  of  Peter  the  Great,  i.  291. 

Regency  of,  i.  291. 

Foreign  policy,  i.  295. 

Plots  against  Peter,  1.  298. 

Conspiracy  for  her  deliverance,  i.  ]04* 

Confined  in  a  monastery,  i.  305. 
Sophia  of  Anhalt.  See  Catherine  II. 
Souvorof,  Russian  general,  ii.  116. 

Before  Praga,  ii.  123. 

Exiled,  ii.  129. 

Recalled  from  exile,  ii.  131. 

Heroic  retreat,  ii.  136. 


INDEX. 


327 


Souzdal,  principalities  of,  i.  74. 

Becomes  centre  of  Russia,  i.  83. 
Resists  Tatar  impost,  i.  122. 
Souzdalian  army  defeated  by  Tatars,  i.  116. 
Sovereignty  of  Russian  princes,  i.  69. 
Spanish  succession,  war  of,  1712-1713,  ii.  42. 
Speranski,  ii.  213. 

Stanislas   Leszczinski   declared  King  of   Po- 
land, ii.  64,  65. 
Stanislas   Poniatovski,    King  of    Poland,    ii. 
117. 

King,  captivity,  ii.  130. 
States-General  convoked  by  Ivan  IV.,  i.  199. 
Statues,  ii.  225. 

Stenko  Razine,  a  Cossack  leader,  1.  281. 
Steppes,  arable,  zone  of,  i.  21. 

Barren,  zone  of,  i.  22. 
Stolbovo,  peace  of,  1617,  i.  257. 
Streltsi  founded  by  Ivan  IV.,  i.  208. 

Mutiny  in  reign  of  Peter  the  Great,  i. 
303. 
Strogonofs  explore   mineral    wealth   of   the 

Ourals,  i.  206. 
Sublime  Porte.     See  Turkey. 
Superstition,  i.  222. 
Suomen-maa.     See  Finland. 
Suonii,  the  three  tribes  of,  i.  29. 
Sviatopolk,  nephew  of  Vladimir,  i.  61. 

Usurps  throne  of  Kief,  i.  62. 
Sviatoslaf,  son  of  Igor,  i.  51. 

Assumes  the  government,  i.  52. 

Defeats  the  Khazars,  i.  53. 

Death  of,  i.  56. 
Sweden,  frontier  war  with  Russia,  j.  191. 

Rupture  with  Poland,  i.  233. 

Renewed  war  with  Russia,  i.  233. 

Terms  of  peace  with   Russia,  1617,  i. 
257- 

Struggle      between      aristocracy     and 
crown,  11.  9. 

Relations  to  France,  ii.  14. 

Becomes  Power  of  third  rank,  ii.  20. 

Deserted  by  her  allies,  ii.  43. 
Swedes  invade  Russia,  i.  202. 
Swedish  army  destroyed,  ii.  20. 
Synod,  Holy,  ii.  31. 


Talleyrand,  ii.  199,  201. 
Tamerlane,  head  of  Mongols,  1.  151. 

Invades  Russia,  i.  154. 

Pillages  the  Golden  Horde,  i.  154. 
Targovitsa,  Confederates  of,  ii.  119. 
Ta-ta.     See  Tatar. 
Tatars,  the,  i.  35. 

First  appearance,  1224,  i.  7a. 

Invasion,  i.  93. 

A  Mongol  tribe,  i.  112. 

Second  invasion,  i.  115. 

Success,  cause  of,  i.  117. 

Embrace  the  Islam  faith,  i.  119. 

Religious  toleration,  i.  129. 

Allies  under  Mamai,  i.  149. 

Of  Crimea,  i.  167. 

Allies  of  Sigismond  and  Vassili,  i.  178. 

Dissensions,  i.  179. 

Crimea,  i.  179. 

Of  Crimea,  raids,  i.  199. 

Burn  Moscow,  i.  200. 

Message  to  Ivan  IV.,  i.  200. 
Taurian  invasion  of  Russia,  i.  179. 


Taxes,  ii.  30. 
Tcheremisses,  the,  i.  30. 
Tcherinchef,  mission  to  Napoleon,  ii.  194, 
Tchoud  or  Lett  tribes  of  Baltic,  i.  107. 
Tchouvaches,  the,  i.  30. 
Telegraphs,  ii.  274. 
Teheran,  ii.  254. 

Teutonic  Knights,  power  crushed,  i.  136. 
Theatres,  ii.  63,  79. 
Thugut,  ii.  132. 

Tilsel,  Conference    between    Napoleon    and 
Alexander  I.,  ii.  157. 

Treaty  of,  1807,  ii.  158. 
Tobacco,  use  forbidden,  i.  262. 
Torques.     See  Black  Caps. 
Touchino,  Tzar  of,  i.  246. 
Towns,  i.  43. 

Trees  of  Northern  Russia,  i.  31. 
Tribes,  i.  24. 

Tributes  in  time  of  Iaroslof,  i.  66. 
Troppan,  Congress  of,  ii.  217. 
Tumuli,  See  monuments, 
Turkestan,  Russian  rule,  ii.  279. 
Turkey  declares  war  on  Russia,  ii.  93. 

Ultimatum  rejected  declares  war  against 
Russia,  ii.  114. 

Serious  internal  troubles,  ii.  208. 

demands   European    non-interference, 
ii.  234. 

Concludes  two  treaties,  ii.  235. 

Russian  protectorate,  ii.  245. 
Turkish  races  in  Russia,  i.  33. 

Fleet,  destruction  at  Navarino,  ii   235. 
Turks  and  Tatars  besiege  Astrakhan,  i.  200. 
Tzar,  relations  with  his  people,  i.  209. 
Tzar,  mode  of  selecting  wives,  i.  211. 
Tzargrad   (Byzantium),  expedition   against,  I. 

49- 
Tzars,  the  empire  of,  i.  15. 


Ukraine,  rebels,  i.  241,  270. 

Undermined  by  factions,  t.  307. 
Ulm,  Capitulation  of,  ii.  147. 
Uniate  Church,  i.  270, 

United  States,  Russia  opens  relations,  it.  314c 
Unity  of  Russian  States,  i.  76. 


Valdai,  the  plateau  of,  i.  18. 
Valleys  of  Russia,  i.  15. 
Varangians,  origin  of,  1.  45. 

As  soldiers  and  sailors,  i.  46. 

Princes,  administration  of,  j.  66. 
Vassili  Dmitrievitch,  i.  153. 

Accession  to  throne,  i.  154. 
Vassili  the  Blind,  i.   156. 
Vassili  the  Squinting,  i.  157. 
Vassili  Ivanovitch  son  of  Ivan  III.,  i.  173. 

Wars  with  Lithuania,  i.  177. 

Acquires  Smolensk,  i.  177. 
Varojevski  succeeds  Kosciuszko,  ii.  124. 

Accept  convention  at  Radochitse,    it, 
125. 
Verona,  Congress  of,  ii.  208. 
Vetche,  assembly  of  the  citizens,  i.  96. 

Extensive  powers,  i.  100. 
Victoria,   Queen,  visits  Louis   Napoleon,  & 

.256- 
Vienna,  Congress  of,  ii.  200. 

Conference  of  the. five  pov.ers,  ii  34Q. 


328 


INDEX. 


Villeneuve,  French  ambassador,  ii.  66. 
Vistula,  legions  of,  ii.  171. 
Vititchevo,  town  on  the  Dnieper,  i.  79. 
Vitovt,  career  of,  i.  124,  137. 

Crusade  of  the  Vorskla,  1399,  i.  155. 
Vladimir,  son  of  Sviatoslaf,  i.  58. 

The  Russian  Clovis,  i.  38. 

Religious  aspirations,  i.  39. 

Is  baptized,  i.  60. 

Destroys  the  idols,  i.  60. 

Builds  churches,  i.  60. 

Marnes  sister  of  Greek  Emperors,  i.  60. 

Dies,  1015,  i.  6r. 

Successors  of,  i.  62. 
Vladimir  Monomachus,  son  of  Vsevolod,  i.  78. 

Becomes  Grand  Prince,  i.  79. 

Successes  against  the  nomads,  i.  79. 
Vladislas,  son  of  Sigismond,  i.  248,  257. 

Becomes  King  of  Poland,  i.  260. 

Death,  i.  275. 
Volga,  principal  river  of  Russia,  i.  20, 

Basin  and  tributaries,  i.  20. 
Volhynia,  division  of  South-east  Russia,  L  74. 


Volost.     See  Commune,  i.  42. 

Voltaire, relations  with  Schouvalof,  ii.  80. 

Correspondence  with  Catherine  II.,  iL 
108. 
Vsevolod,  brother  of  Isiaslaf,  i.  78. 
Wallachia,  ii.  234,  247. 

Warsaw,  plan  to  make  Ivan  IV.  King  of  Po. 
land,  i.  200. 

Diet  of,  ii.  117. 

Expels  Russians,  ii.  122. 
Water-system  of  Russia,  i.  19. 
Waterloo,  battle  of,  ii.  202. 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  ii.  234. 
White  Russia,  i.  33. 
White  Sea,  English  expedition,  i.  203. 

Natural  obstructions   to  commerce,  iL 

,     ,         33- 

Wife  capture,  custom  of,  i.  31. 
Willoughby,  Sir  Hugh,  expedition,  i.  203. 
Wilna  revolts  against   Russian   authority,  ii 
123. 

Recaptured  by  Russians,  ii.  1*4. 
Zaporogues,  i.  369,  joq. 


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